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Harvard Forest Research Project 2023

  • Title: Urban VOCs: understanding atmosphere to soil fluxes
  • Principal investigator: Laura Meredith (laurameredith@email.arizona.edu)
  • Institution: University of Arizona
  • Primary contact: Gemma Purser (gpurser@arizona.edu)
  • Team members: Jennifer Bhatnagar
    Lucy Hutyra
    Pamela Templer
  • Abstract:

    Volatile care products (VCPs) are newly emerging sources of anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere, especially in urban centers. In addition, an additional source of potential VOCs in our cities comes from the increased interest in urban greening schemes in part due to greenhouse gas emission mitigation strategies, cooling of urban heat effects and to increase human health and wellbeing. These sources of VOCs are precursors in the formation of secondary sources of pollution such as aerosols, particulate matter and ozone, which lead to changes in urban and suburban air quality. However, it is well documented that soils can act as a large sinks for VOCs, both in terms of physical deposition and microbially mediated uptake. This initial proposal will seek to understand what capacity urban forest soils may have to act as a sink for both biogenic and anthropogenic sources of VOCs. Can we see changes in the uptake rate of VOCs based on the pre-exposure and adaptation of certain microbial species as a result of emerging sources of VOC?. To understand these processes, soil cores will be collected in triplicate from 8 areas across an urban (Boston) to rural (Harvard forest) transect in Massachusetts. The three rural cores will serve as control soils, for the 5 urban areas. The cores will be subjected to dosing with a range of VOCs found in the urban environment at atmospheric relevant concentrations under controlled conditions at Aerodyne Research Inc, Billerica. Changes in VOC concentration will be monitored by Vocus Chemical Ionization-Time Of Flight - Mass Spectrometry. (CI-ToF-MS) and uptake rates of the range of dosed VOCs. This information can then be tied back to the wider biosphere-atmosphere processes in urban environments.