‘Missing volatile organic compounds’ and their atmospheric impacts in the changing Arctic

• Main Author: Hu, Lu
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: ScholarWorks at University of Montana 2019
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/ugp-reports/57; https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/ugp-reports/article/1058/viewcontent/Hu_Seed_report_2019.pdf

The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world due to climate change. One of its consequences is the anticipated increasing concentrations of ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by plants, resulting from ongoing ecosystem transition (‘greening’ or vegetation shifts). This project aimed to measure those changes in VOCs in the Alaskan Arctic with UM’s state-of-the-science mass spectrometer. The collected data will be used to answer overall questions on the implications for atmospheric chemistry in the Arctic: a) to what degree are there significant biogenic VOCs present in the Arctic atmosphere due to warming climate and vegetation shifts? b) what is the importance of biogenic VOCs in controlling other air pollutant levels such as ozone, formaldehyde, particulate matter in the Arctic?