PNNL

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Earth scientist Manish Shrivastava gave a keynote talk at the Atmospheric Optics conference. Put on by the Air & Waste Management Association, the international conference provides “a technical forum on advances in the scientific understanding of the effects of aerosols on urban, regional, continental, and global-scale haze and the radiative balance.”

Shrivastava’s talk focused on how secondary organic aerosols (SOAs), carbon-based molecules that form from chemical reactions in the atmosphere, seed clouds and scatter and absorb sunlight in the atmosphere.

“I am honored to be invited to open the conference with my keynote lecture on secondary organic aerosols and their radiative impacts,” said Shrivastava.

Understanding the complex physical and chemical processes that make SOA particles in the atmosphere and control their interactions with clouds and sunlight is important for accurately modeling aerosol behavior. SOAs begin their lifecycle as organic gases emitted from trees, vehicle exhaust, or wildfires but are converted to millions of tiny particles as these gases react in the atmosphere.

“Aerosol behavior and impacts remain some of the greatest uncertainties in current climate models,” said Laboratory Fellow Yun Qian. “Manish’s work has provided important insights into how secondary organic aerosols form and chemically change in the atmosphere.”

Shrivastava, who received an Early Career Research Program award from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2018, has produced impactful work exploring the sources of secondary organic aerosols. One of his previous studies was recently highlighted by Nature Communications in a special issue on air pollution.