Special Symposia

Bioaerosols in Agriculture: Sources, Risks and Mitigation

Organizers: Caroline Duchaine (Université Laval) and Stéphane Godbout (Research and Development Institute for the Agri-Environment)

This symposium aims to disseminate current data and knowledge pertaining to the sources of bioaerosols in agriculture, including the livestock industry (e.g., swine, poultry, cattle, dairy), crop harvesting, and emerging activities such as insect production. The primary objective is to enhance our comprehension of human and animal risks associated with these bioaerosols. The symposium will cover a range of topics, including air sampling, emission calculations, mitigation technologies, and risk assessment for viruses, bacteria, dust, and other biological components. Presentations will share insights into these subjects and could also explore emerging technologies and approaches for mitigating and controlling bioaerosols.  The symposium presentations will serve as a nexus between various scientific disciplines, including measurement, engineering, microbiology, and aerosol sciences. Scientists from diverse backgrounds and perspectives will convene to stimulate discussions and foster collaborative research. The organizers anticipate the inclusion of a plenary panel for conclusive discussions during the event.

Chemicals of Emerging Concern in Aerosol: Sources, Transformations, and Impacts

Organizers: Douglas Collins (Bucknell University) and Jenna Ditto (Washington University - St. Louis)

Air quality studies have long sought to understand the sources, transformations, and health impacts of primary and secondary aerosol. As control measures for fossil fuel combustion sources have improved urban air quality, the emerging importance of different chemical sources and transformations are being recognized. For example, secondary aerosol formation from volatile chemical products and primary non-exhaust emissions from vehicular traffic are of growing importance. Wildfire emissions increasingly influence not only the wildland-urban interface, but also urban centers hundreds of kilometers from the active fire. Chemicals that have been studied in other environmental media (e.g., water) have also been increasingly discovered in ambient aerosol particles, including perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pesticides, aquatic and coastal marine phytotoxins, microplastics, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Studies of the indoor environment have also revealed emerging exposure routes and chemical transformations associated with chemical emissions from e-cigarettes, cannabis, and tobacco smoke. This special symposium welcomes studies related to emerging chemicals in aerosol particles, spanning their (physico)chemical properties, transport, transformations, and impacts on human and ecosystem health, including:

• Indoor smoking (e.g., tobacco, cannabis, and electronic vapes)

• Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)

• Aerosol formation from volatile chemical products (VCPs)

• Emissions and physicochemical properties of microplastics

• Biomass burning (e.g., wildfires, controlled burns, domestic burning)

• Non-exhaust urban emissions (e.g., non-exhaust traffic emissions, residential and commercial cooking)

• Transport and chemical processes involving persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

• Aerosolized toxins derived from aquatic and coastal marine environment

Planetary Aerosols: From Earth to Exoplanets

Organizer: Eleanor Browne (University of Colorado Boulder) and Melissa Trainer (NASA Goddard)

From the H2SO4 haze of Venus to the thick organic haze of Titan and thin organic haze of Pluto, photochemically produced hazes are prevalent in our solar system and recent observations suggest that they are common components of exoplanet atmospheres as well. Additionally, haze is thought to have existed at several points during the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere with implications for habitability and the emergence of early life. Just as on the modern Earth, aerosols in these diverse atmospheres play a central role in atmospheric chemistry, dynamics, and radiative balance. Through their interaction with light, aerosols affect observable planetary atmospheric spectra providing information on composition and structure while also potentially complicating interpretation. With new and forthcoming measurement capabilities such as from the James Webb telescope and NASA’s Dragonfly mission, there exists an opportunity and a need to improve our understanding of aerosols much different from those prevalent in the modern Earth’s atmosphere.

The aim of this session is to facilitate cross- and inter-disciplinary work in the Earth and planetary science communities to improve our understanding of aerosol and cloud microphysics and chemistry. We invite submissions from laboratory, observational, modeling, and instrument/method development work that focus on aerosols in atmospheres different from that of the modern Earth.

Indoor Air Purification Technologies, Best Practices, and their Health Impacts

Organizers: Bo Yang (3M)

People spend large amount of time in indoor environments, such as residential/commercial/public buildings like apartments, offices, classrooms, restaurants, gyms, and transportation systems like vehicles, ships, aircrafts, and even spacecrafts.  There are many air pollutants including particulate matter (PM, can carry pathogens) and gases (CO, NO2, O3, VOCs, etc.) in these indoor environments.  Some of the pollutants may come from outdoor sources like industrial and agriculture activities, dust, wildfires, sea salts. Others can be generated from indoor activities like cooking, decoration, vacuum cleaning, smoking/vaping, breathing/talking, incense burning, and personal care products using. Besides, the indoor CO2 concentrations are generally higher than outdoors. There are many indoor air purification technologies, using physical, chemical, or mixed methods.  Some of them are more generic, and others are better for specific pollutants or possibly generate new pollutants/byproducts/side effects.  There are strong needs to quantify their performances, illustrate the best practices, minimize potential long-term or short-term adverse health impacts for different populations.  This symposium encourages research covering one or more of the following technologies/topics:

• Centralized HVAC filtration and/or portable air filtration (including DIY devices like Corsi-Rosenthal box)

• Electrostatic purification

• Chemically active air purification (Germicidal UV, Plasma, Catalytic oxidation, Ion generation, etc.)

• Absorbent materials

• Other new air purification technologies

• Case studies (such as residential/commercial/public buildings, transportation systems, disadvantage communities), including general health impact and/or respiratory disease transmission mitigation.

• Better indoor air quality metrics and/or regulation recommendations.

Coast to Coast Campaigns on Aerosols, Clouds, Chemistry, and Air Quality

Organizers: Lynn Russell (UC San Diego) and Drew Gentner (Yale)

Aerosol measurement campaigns across the U.S. in 2023 known together as AGES+ represent the largest collective air quality-focused research campaign to date, spanning coast-to-coast, and encompassing ground-based observations including networks of highly instrumented ground sites, several research aircraft, and space-based observations from NOAA JPSS and the recently launched NASA TEMPO geostationary satellite. This symposium invites overviews and early findings from the aerosol observations or associated modeling efforts from these projects or other related studies to share results with the community and catalyze collaborations.