Sulfur dioxide is an important trace gas of the atmosphere that has important implications for air quality, acid deposition, and climate. Over the last several decades, sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants and vehicles have dramatically declined due to effective regulations. However, atmospheric deposition of sulfur remains a large terrestrial stressor having important implications for land and water quality and important interacting effects with climate and air pollution. This project will investigate why acid deposition has not improved as much as expected in New England. Sulfuric acid will be extracted from atmospheric filter samples collected in Rhode Island over the past 15 years and analyzed for concentrations and isotopic composition. The data in this project will be analyzed using atmospheric emission data, air mass transport calculations, and advanced geospatial statistical packages to investigate changes in atmospheric chemistry and long-range transport to near-surface sulfate trends. Current progress has been made on the development of a working procedure to precipitate sulfate out of sample solutions using barium chloride; repeated control tests were developed on the basis of previous experiments and results of iterative testing.
Isabella R Pulzone,
"Extraction of Sulfate from Atmospheric Particulate Matter Samples for Concentration and Isotopic Analyses"
(2021).
Summer Research Symposium.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/p496-p276
Each year, Brown University showcases the research of its undergraduates at the Summer Research Symposium. More than half of the student-researchers are UTRA recipients, while others receive funding from a variety of Brown-administered and national programs and fellowships and go …
