{"262971":{"#nid":"262971","#data":{"type":"news","title":"In the Middle of Nowhere, Surrounded by Everything","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThings went back to normal during the fall semester for third-year chemical and biomolecular engineering Ph.D. candidate Lu Xu after a summer trip that was anything but typical. He and four other Georgia Tech graduate students spent six weeks in Alabama\u2019s Talladega National Forest, surrounded by thousands of acres of nature. Don\u2019t confuse it for a camping trip amongst friends.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInstead of pitching tents and relying on their wits and primitive tools, the students were holed up in temporary labs, working with sophisticated research instruments. They spent a month and a half participating in the largest U.S. atmospheric chemistry field project in decades \u2013 the Southeast Atmosphere Study (SAS). The initiative brought together dozens of national and international institutions. The research teams used instrumentation onboard aircraft and ground sites aimed at better understanding how chemicals emitted by human activities and plants interact with each other and affect air quality and climate in the southeastern United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt was a very exciting experience,\u201d Xu said. \u201cBut it was not easy.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELong days were the norm for the researchers. Xu, Katerina Bougiatioti, Kate Cerully, Hongyu Guo and Laura King arrived at a community of trailers in the forest each morning around 7:30. That\u2019s where they oversaw an organized maze of tubes, filters and specialized instruments that constantly collected and analyzed molecules and particles from the atmosphere. Data were acquired and preliminary analyses were discussed daily between the team and with the other scientists on site. The days ended in the evening, when all five students went back to the same cabin to unwind and rest.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe group used a cloud condensation nuclei spectrometer, high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer, particle-into-liquid-sampler and a custom-built thermal denuder to measure aerosol properties. The instruments provide unique insight on how organic emissions from trees affect the relationship between air chemistry and climate change. Integrated in a way never done before, the new measurement capability was made possible through combining the expertise of Georgia Tech faculty members Athanasios Nenes, Rodney Weber, Michael Bergin, Nga Lee Ng and their students. The team, representing Georgia Tech\u2019s Colleges of Engineering and Sciences, also used instruments onboard specialized airplanes that flew all over the southeastern United States, including over the research site, gathering samples at higher altitudes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/news\/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=128289\u0022\u003EAccording to the National Science Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E, one of the funding agencies that supported the SAS initiative, scientists have known for years that human-made pollutants can interact with plant-emitted organic compounds, turning them into airborne particles.\u003C\/p\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences graduate student Hongyu Guo measures how atmospheric particles are interacting with sunlight.\u003Cp\u003EThose particles may affect air quality, human health and climate. Because the southeastern United States is one of the few places on the planet with a cooling trend over the last century \u2013 an effect thought to be caused by aerosols \u2013 the SAS put down roots in rural Alabama.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe fact that so many institutes and universities were gathered in one location, each using different techniques to study the same thing, is amazing,\u201d said Bougiatioti, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBiogenic and anthropogenic emissions on their own can make significant amounts of particles,\u201d said Nenes, Professor and Georgia Power Faculty Scholar in the Schools of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE). \u201cWhat is really interesting is that upon mixing, anthropogenic and biogenic emissions make considerably more particles. We don\u2019t really know why. The data collected in Alabama is the most complete to date for helping us answer the question.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWeber (EAS) saw evidence for this possible effect a number of years ago while studying aerosols on the Georgia Tech campus. He has since been actively investigating what makes aerosol formation in this region unique.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis extensive new data set may help us finally put all the pieces together and lead to the development of a more comprehensive picture,\u201d Weber said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany prior laboratory studies have shown that anthropogenic pollutants such as nitrogen oxides can have complex implications on biogenic particle formation,\u201d noted Ng, as assistant professor in ChBE and EAS. \u201cThe extensive data set from the SAS campaign can also provide important insights for constraining future laboratory experiment parameters to obtain a fundamental understanding of the underlying chemical mechanisms of this anthropogenic-biogenic interaction.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat they learned is still months or even years away from being known for certain. Now that the SAS is over and classes are back in session, the students and advisers begin the challenging and exciting process of making sense of all the data collected.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe SAS was supported by the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and Electric Power Research Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter and Photographer\u003C\/strong\u003E: Jason Maderer\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"ChBE graduate students spent six weeks in Alabama\u2019s Talladega National Forest  participating in the largest U.S. atmospheric chemistry field project in decades \u2013 the Southeast Atmosphere Study (SAS)."}],"field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27741","created_gmt":"2013-12-31 11:15:10","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:36","author":"Katie Brown","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-12-31T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2013-12-31T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"262981":{"id":"262981","type":"image","title":"SAS Lab","body":null,"created":"1449243999","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:46:39","changed":"1475894948","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:08","alt":"SAS Lab","file":{"fid":"198436","name":"lab_inside_2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lab_inside_2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/lab_inside_2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1348393,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/lab_inside_2_0.jpg?itok=Gsu_aXMi"}},"263001":{"id":"263001","type":"image","title":"SAS grad students","body":null,"created":"1449244014","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:46:54","changed":"1475894948","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:08","alt":"SAS grad students","file":{"fid":"198438","name":"group_shot_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/group_shot_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/group_shot_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1184255,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/group_shot_0.jpg?itok=CLlQce1M"}},"262991":{"id":"262991","type":"image","title":"SAS machine","body":null,"created":"1449244014","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:46:54","changed":"1475894948","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:08","alt":"SAS machine","file":{"fid":"198437","name":"machine_outside.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/machine_outside_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/machine_outside_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1103911,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/machine_outside_1.jpg?itok=g1lgwqbg"}}},"media_ids":["262981","263001","262991"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/features\/middle-nowhere-surrounded-everything","title":"Georgia Tech News Center: In the Middle of Nowhere, Surrounded by Everything"},{"url":"http:\/\/ng.chbe.gatech.edu\/","title":"Ng\u0027s Research Website"},{"url":"http:\/\/nenes.eas.gatech.edu\/","title":"Nenes\u0027s Research Page"}],"groups":[{"id":"1240","name":"School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EKatie Brown\u003Cbr \/\u003ESchool of Chemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E(404) 385-2299\u003Cbr \/\u003Enews@chbe.gatech.edu\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["news@chbe.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}