EESS talk on "Aerosol and health in the urbansphere"
Event details
| Date | 30.05.2023 |
| Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
| Speaker | Dr. Imad El Haddad, Research Laboratory Head, Group Head Molecular Cluster and particle Processes, Paul Scherrer Institute |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Abstract:
Air pollution is the biggest environmental problem today, killing more than 7 million persons every year. The polluted air we breathe contains high levels of aerosols or particulate matter (PM), especially in cities where more than half of the world population lives today. This year, the world health organization has released their new guidelines for fine PM annual concentrations, proposing the much more stringent limit value of 5 μg m-3. Such value is currently only found in remote environments, while 99% of the world population lives in places where such concentration is never met. To meet this target, we will need to determine the main emission sources of urban aerosols and the factors promoting their accumulation and transformations in the complex, highly inhomogeneous urban environments. Here, we present enhanced ambient observations, where the aerosol composition and emission sources are characterized in environments ranging from the Arctic to polluted China. We will also show through laboratory measurements how these emissions rapidly transform in the atmosphere. Finally, we will discuss new numerical methods for the determination of personalized exposures to single aerosol sources for the assessment of aerosol health impacts.
Short biography:
Dr. El Haddad is the head of the environmental molecular science group in the laboratory of atmospheric chemistry at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. He has 15 years’ experience in atmospheric chemistry. His work is focused on urban emissions and their impacts on the atmospheric composition, human health and the Earth’s climate. He developed multiple analytical and numerical techniques to characterize the aerosol composition and sources in environments ranging from the Arctic to polluted China. He has refined the understanding of atmospheric aging of complex emissions through smog chamber experiments at PSI and at CERN within the CLOUD experiment. Simple parameterizations of the resulting experimental data have been implemented in regional and global models to determine the impact of aerosol pollution on our climate and health
Air pollution is the biggest environmental problem today, killing more than 7 million persons every year. The polluted air we breathe contains high levels of aerosols or particulate matter (PM), especially in cities where more than half of the world population lives today. This year, the world health organization has released their new guidelines for fine PM annual concentrations, proposing the much more stringent limit value of 5 μg m-3. Such value is currently only found in remote environments, while 99% of the world population lives in places where such concentration is never met. To meet this target, we will need to determine the main emission sources of urban aerosols and the factors promoting their accumulation and transformations in the complex, highly inhomogeneous urban environments. Here, we present enhanced ambient observations, where the aerosol composition and emission sources are characterized in environments ranging from the Arctic to polluted China. We will also show through laboratory measurements how these emissions rapidly transform in the atmosphere. Finally, we will discuss new numerical methods for the determination of personalized exposures to single aerosol sources for the assessment of aerosol health impacts.
Short biography:
Dr. El Haddad is the head of the environmental molecular science group in the laboratory of atmospheric chemistry at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. He has 15 years’ experience in atmospheric chemistry. His work is focused on urban emissions and their impacts on the atmospheric composition, human health and the Earth’s climate. He developed multiple analytical and numerical techniques to characterize the aerosol composition and sources in environments ranging from the Arctic to polluted China. He has refined the understanding of atmospheric aging of complex emissions through smog chamber experiments at PSI and at CERN within the CLOUD experiment. Simple parameterizations of the resulting experimental data have been implemented in regional and global models to determine the impact of aerosol pollution on our climate and health
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- EESS - IIE
Contact
- Prof. D. Andrew Barry, ECOL