Bren Research Professor, Chemistry
School of Physical Sciences

Bren Research Professor, Earth System Science
School of Physical Sciences

Atmospheric Chemistry & Chemical Kinetics

www.physsci.uci.edu/~rowlandblake/

Tyler Prize in Ecology, 1983
Japan Prize in Environment and Energy, 1989
American Chemical Society, Peter Debye Award, 1993
American Geophysical Union, Roger Revelle Medal, 1994
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1995

Atmospheric Chemistry & Chemical Kinetics

Our research group is currently studying the composition of the earth's atmosphere in(a)remote locations throughout the Pacific region from Alaska to New Zealand:(b)highly polluted cities throughout the world; and (c)areas with special conditions, such as burning forests and/or agricultural wastes, or the marine boundary layer in oceanic locations with high biological emissions. Whole air samples are collected on land, ships, and aircraft and are returned to our laboratory for analysis.

Gas chromatography utilizing flame ionization detection, electron capture detection, and mass spectrometry is our main analytical tool. A three gaschromatograph analytical system is used to quantify about 150 halocarbons, nonmethane hydrocarbons, and alkyl nitrates ranging in mole fraction from about 2 parts per billion to 20 parts per quadrillion.

In an attempt to determine "background" concentrations of selected trace gases, since 1978 we have been collecting air samples at surface locations every three months in Pacific regions from northern Alaska to southern New Zealand. Early results from this study demonstrated that methane is increasing in the atmosphere, and is an important greenhouse gas involved in global warming.

Research group members have collected samples in more than 25 different large cities throughout the world in an attempt to identify sources of urban pollution. Our work in Mexico City, in addition to Santiago, Chile identified leakage of liquefied petroleum gas as a major smog precursor comparable to automobiles and industrial sources. Future projects have involved China, Pakistan, and France.

Since 1988 our research group has been involved in NASA and NSF sponsored airborne projects. The general motivation for these experiments is the study of regional or global change. For example, the 1991 and 1994 NASA Pacific Exploratory Missions were designed in part to determine baseline concentrations of trace gases and aerosols in air advected from the Asian continent. Data obtained during the 1992 NASA Transport and Atmospheric Chemistry near the Equator-Atlantic project confirmed that biomass burning emissions from Africa and South America were the cause of enhanced tropospheric ozone observed by satellite. Results from the 1992 biomass burning study were useful for understanding enhanced concentrations of biomass burning tracers observed in the mid-troposphere of the South Central Pacific during NASA's Pacific Exploratory Mission-Tropics A, a two aircraft mission flown during August-October, 1996.

Graduate students are involved in building equipment, integrating equipment onto aircraft, collecting samples during flights, analyzing the samples at our home laboratory, interpreting data, and preparing manuscripts for publication.

Other comleted experiments include:

SONEX (SASS Ozone and NOx Experiment)
Study of perturbations of the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere by commercial aircraft

NASA-sponsored PEM-Tropics-A (Pacific Exploratory Mission-Tropics-A, (completed, 1996) and B (completed, 1999) and TRACE-P(completed, 2001).

BIBLE (Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment)
Study of biomass burning over tropical asia, funded by the Japanese government.

TOPSE (Tropospheric Ozone Production about the Spring Equinox)
NSF-sponsored Whole Air Sampling from the NCAR C-130 Aircraft During TOPSE, with monthly flights into the polar north.

GREENLAND
NSF-sponsored Investigation of Photochemical Transformations within Snow and Their Effect on Snows and Atmospheric Composition

"Carbonyl Sulfide (OCS): Large-scale Distributions over North America during INTEX-NA and Relatinship to CO2", N. J. Blake, J. E. Campbell, S. A. Vay, H. E. Fuelberg, L. G. Huey, G. Sachse, S. Meinardi, A. Beyersdorf, A. Baker, B. Barletta, J. Midyett, L. Doezema, M. Kamboures, J. McAdams, B. Novak, F. S. Rowland, and D. R. Blake, Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres,2008, 113,D9, D09S90.

"Ambient Mixing Ratios of Nonmethane Hydrocarbons (NMHCs) in Tow Major Urban Centers of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region: Guangzhou and Gongguan", B. Barletta, S. Meinardi. I. J. Simpson, S. C. Zou. F. S. Rowland and D. R. Blake, Atmospheric Environement,2008, 42,1, 4393-4408.

"Ambient Halocarbon Mixing Ratios in 45 Chinese Cities," B. Barletta, s. Meinardi, I. J. Simpson, F. S. Rowland, C.-Y. Chan, X. Wang, S. Zou, L. Y. Chan and D. R. Blake Atmospheric Environement,2006, 40, 7706-7719.

"Measurements of Nonmethane Hydrocarbons in 28 United States Cities," A. K. Baker, A. J. Beyersdorf., L. A. Doezema, A. Katzenstein, S. Meinardi. I. J. Simpson, D. R. Blake, and F. S. Rowland, Atmospheric Environement,2008, 42,1, 170-182.

"Exhaled Methyl Nitrate as a Noninvasive Marker of Hyperglycemia in Type 1 Diabetes", B. Novak, D. R. Blake, S. Meinardi, F. S. Rowland, A. Pontello, D. M. Cooper, and P. R. Galassetti, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007, 104,(40), 15762-15767.

"Stratospheric Ozone Depletion," F. S. Rowland, Philosphical Transactions of the Royal Society B., 2006, 361, 769-790.