Delta Junction air quality monitoring site comes online in new national network

Four science instruments at Delta Junction have begun gathering air quality data as part of a multistate project to determine the chemical content and physical properties of airborne particulate matter.

The Delta Junction site, one of 12 in 10 states, is managed by associate professor Jingqiu Mao of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute and College of Natural Science and Mathematics. Professor Nga Lee “Sally” Ng of the Georgia Institute of Technology is the lead investigator.

The instruments began operating Monday, June 26.

“To my knowledge, this is the first site to measure aerosol composition in real time in North America’s boreal forest,” Mao said.

The $12 million project, funded by the National Science Foundation, has created the nation’s first long-term network of monitoring stations on aerosol chemical content and properties.

Instruments will provide data every one to 60 minutes about the chemical makeup of fine particulate matter in ambient air, often referred as PM2.5. They will also provide the size distributions and optical properties of fine particles to better understand the role of particles in climate.

Europe and China have such networks.

The Atmospheric Science and Chemistry Measurement Network aims to learn the sources, chemistry, dynamics, chemical properties and physical properties of aerosols. That will allow scientists “to accurately assess and predict their impacts on climate, human health, visibility, and ecosystems in a changing environment,” the project proposal reads.

The new network will improve upon the several aging, independent monitors established 10 to 30 years ago. The older monitors require time-consuming offline air filter processing, making them ineffective for rapid analysis and response. 

Each site will have four instruments: one for trace metals, one for optical properties, one for aerosol size distribution and one for concentrations of non-refractory aerosols, those that vaporize rapidly only at extremely high temperatures.

Other data sites include Port Angeles, Washington; Los Angeles-Pico Rivera, California; Riverside County, California; Joshua Tree National Park, California; the Wyoming portion of Yellowstone National Park; Denver area, Colorado; Houston, Texas; Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania; Queens College, New York; DeKalb County, Georgia; and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee.

Other institutions involved are the University of Washington, California Institute of Technology, Harvey Mudd College, University of Wyoming, University of Colorado Boulder, Roger Williams University, University of Houston, Carnegie Mellon University, Yale University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.