Exploring the Impact of Chemistry on Air Quality and Climate

News

A beautiful sunset over the by-products of copper mining in Mufulira, Zambia, commonly known as The Black Mountain.

NCAR researchers find alarming pollution in Africa

Oct 31, 2023

That smartphone you use, the electric vehicle you drive and your laptop all rely on lithium-ion batteries.

The material inside those batteries is cobalt, much of which is mined in Africa. New research out of Boulder suggests that mining for cobalt is also polluting parts of Africa.

Monitoring African Copper and Cobalt Mining Emissions from Space

Oct 12, 2023

Emissions associated with mining operations in Africa’s Copperbelt can be quantified from space, according to new research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

View of Denver skyline and air pollution from South Table Mountain

Clearing the Air: The Hazy Future of Our Skies

Oct 11, 2023

ACOM Scientist Gabriele Pfister contributed to the new season of the award-winning podcast "Laws of Notion" which the Institute of Science & Policy just released.

Publication Highlight

Gaubert, B., Edwards, D. P., Anderson, J. L., Arellano, A. F., Barré, J., Buchholz, R. R., … Ziskin, D. (2023). Global scale inversions from MOPITT CO and MODIS AOD. Remote Sensing, 15, 4813.

Dec 6, 2023

S. Martínez-Alonso, J. P. Veefkind, B. Dix, B. Gaubert, N. Theys, C. Granier, A. Soulié, S. Darras, H. Eskes, W. Tang, H. Worden, J. de Gouw, P. F. Levelt, 2023: S-5P/TROPOMI-Derived NOx Emissions From Copper/Cobalt Mining and Other Industrial Activities in the Copperbelt (Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia). Geophysical Research Letters.

Oct 17, 2023

Schematic diagrams of SOA parameterizations in CESM2

Duseong S. Jo, Simone Tilmes, Louisa K. Emmons, Siyuan Wang, and Francis Vitt, 2023: A new simplified parameterization of secondary organic aerosol in the Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2; CAM6.3). European Geosciences Union.

Sep 21, 2023

Feature

Anne Johansen of NSF Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences visits ACOM
NCAR Director Everette Joseph attends presentation of new APROC I-CIMS instrument

Events and Seminars

Events

Please review the ACOM Seminar Series for our schedule of scientific lectures. Recordings are posted on the ACOM YouTube Channel.

Next All-Staff Report

December 6, 2023: Helen Worden, Asutosh Acharya.

ACCLIP PI Laura Pan presenting the science behind ACCLIP at Media Day, August 5, 2022. (Ren Smith)

All-Staff Reports (formerly Research Reports)

Science, engineering, and administrative discussions held every other Wednesday at 11:00 AM.

Workshops Hosted by ACOM

Researchers gather at UCAR labs in Boulder, Colorado, USA.

3D animation of GV research aircraft sampling air parcels. Credit: Carl Drews and Ren Smith.

Recent Publications

Scientific papers and presentations hosted by the NCAR Library on our OpenSky public access repository.

Upcoming Events

Opportunities for Collaboration

Opportunities and Partnerships

ACOM conducts collaborative research focusing on two major scientific challenges, Air Quality Prediction Research and Interactions between Chemistry and the Climate/Weather System. The work is conducted in partnership with other entities within NCAR, and with other members of the wider atmospheric chemistry community.

Model grids used in the spectral element version of the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model (CAM-SE).

Multi-Scale Infrastructure for Chemistry Modeling (MUSICA)

Field Missions and Data Archive

Data collection in the field.

Chemical Forecasts

Generated daily with WACCM, CAM-Chem, and WRF-Chem.

Research Highlights

Community Hub

ACOM Visitor Program

Partnerships with the wider science community are at the heart of the NCAR mission, and are an important component of all research conducted within ACOM. Strong collaborations with University groups are in particular paramount to the NCAR and ACOM mission.

SOARS

Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science

Visiting ACOM - Travel Information

Current Visitors