July 2021
UCSD’s COSMOS program strives to motivate and teach prospective scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to become STEM leaders. The program aims to create a community of students who participate in and contribute to an intensive academic experience delivered by distinguished educators and scholars.
Climate Change is one of the most important and controversial issues facing our world. This Climate Change cluster focused on topics such as the science of Green House Gases, GHGs, and their impact on the atmospheric energy balance. The following section introduced the current research conducted at UC San Diego examining the role of aerosols on the energy balance and climate. We explored how global industrial human activity has impacted health, food security, and land utilization. Finally, we reviewed how we might mitigate climate change through reduced utilization, alternate energy sources, carbon abatement and geoengineering.
My group focused on atmospheric VOCs and Secondary Organic Aerosols. Specifically, we researched “ How do anthropogenic aerosols affect people’s health and climate in China?”
Conducted at home experiments on topics such as gear ratio, energy transformations through mechanical, electrical, chemical, and thermal processes, wind energy, and air quality in our local areas. I was also awarded the Joe Watson “Best Team Player” award upon completion.
Through this research, it was concluded that China produces many aerosols, which evolve into VOCs (volatile organic compounds), SOAs (secondary organic aerosols), and POAs (primary organic aerosols). Black carbon and sulfate aerosols are the two main anthropogenic aerosols that impact China which were found to be similar to the products of vehicle exhaust. Cooking especially produces most of these, as well as aromatics, fatty acids, and aldehydes. This produces 10-35% of the organic aerosols in urban areas. As a result of these various aerosols, clouds of smog and haze become more prominent, and due to high emission of aerosols in the atmosphere, there are increases in CCN (Cloud Condensation Nuclei). Normally, when the atmosphere isn’t polluted, the aerosols are used as seed for water vapor to condense on to form clouds and rain. The increase in aerosols creates more, and smaller rain drops. The smaller the rain drops, the more reflective the cloud it makes it more difficult to rain (suppression of precipitation).