2022 Environmental Chemistry

CHEM 474 – Blog Post Assignment: Siri Yarlagadda Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/11/climate/air-pollution-hurricanes.html Science Paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abn9493 I chose a news article published by the New York Times in May of 2022 titled “Air Pollution Can Mean More, or Fewer, Hurricanes. It Depends Where You Live” – this paper covered the link between increased particulate air pollution and the frequency of global tropical cyclones in particular regions. The NYT article primarily referenced a paper published in the journal Science Advances titled “Substantial global influence of anthropogenic aerosols on tropical cyclones over the past 40 years.” This paper was published earlier this year as well and relied on climate simulation data to show how spatial tropical cyclone differences are a result of shifting global emissions of aerosols. The scientific paper was published by Hiroyuki Murakami, a physical scientist at the NOAA, and uses data from the “...

Independent article  (via Yahoo news) Environmental Research Communications article This scientific article is a bit different than some of the others we've talked about thus far, as it presents a plan rather than a finding. The authors open by emphasizing the dire threat global warming poses to the Arctic, warming at nearly twice the global average due to a combination of decreased albedo, increased cloud cover, increased energy transport from lower latitudes, and a rise in black carbon and soot aerosols which absorb heat. However most aerosols are believed to have a net cooling effect due to their reflective and scattering properties (although its extent is not yet fully understood). To increase the reflectivity of the atmosphere, the authors propose stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) as a supplemental method to combat climate change. Specifically, they aim to inject sulfate aerosol into the polar and subpolar regions. In Reflecting sunlight: Recommendations for solar geoengin...

NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/well/live/coronavirus-restaurants-classrooms-salons.html Science article: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abh2939 Preprint article: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.26.21261146v1.full.pdf Initially reading through the NYT article, I had a very high opinion of it. Over the course of the Covid pandemic, many different mitigation techniques have been used in order to protect the public including masking, outdoor dining, social distancing, remote work, and the use of plastic barriers. The NYT article goes through how the plastic barriers we have put up in an effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19 may be effective at blocking large droplets, but won't necessarily be as effective at blocking the spread of smaller aerosols, which can hang in the air for longer. Especially if a room lacks proper ventilation, the presence of barriers won't prevent aerosols from eventually making their way around the barrier and...