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New laboratories to foster world-leading research into air quality, climate change

Date:
March 11, 2014
Source:
University of York
Summary:
New laboratories will allow researchers to tackle current and emerging atmospheric chemistry issues in an integrated way, enabling world-leading contributions to the science of air quality, ozone depletion and climate change. The laboratories include facilities for trace gas measurements and chemical metrology; studies of aerosol and gas phase processes; atmosphere-biosphere exchange, and computer modelling of chemical mechanisms and atmospheric transport.
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The UK's first dedicated laboratory building for atmospheric chemistry research will be officially opened at the University of York next week.

The Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories will allow researchers to tackle current and emerging atmospheric chemistry issues in an integrated way, enabling world-leading contributions to the science of air quality, ozone depletion and climate change.

Supported by a £1.25 million grant from the Wolfson Foundation and a major donation from a benefactor, the new laboratories bring together the world-leading research activities of the University of York and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science.

The new research building will be formally opened on Monday, 17 March by Professor A R Ravishankara from the Departments of Chemistry and Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University.

Professor Ravishankara will also deliver a public lecture, 'Ozone Layer Depletion and the Montreal Protocol: Can this protocol be pushed further?' at the Ron Cooke Hub to mark the opening. In his lecture, he will describe the evolution of the science of the ozone layer over the past four decades and relate this to the international and national policy changes in limiting, curbing, and eliminating the emissions of ozone depleting substances.

The new laboratories will enable York's atmospheric chemistry research teams to be brought together for the first time in one building, and will house faculty staff, post-doctoral researchers, external research staff including from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Defra, as well as postgraduates and undergraduates undertaking research projects.

Professor Alastair Lewis, from the University's Department of Chemistry and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, led the development of the project.

Professor Lewis said: "As well as bringing together the atmospheric research teams from the Department of Chemistry, the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories will provide an experimental and modelling infrastructure for interdisciplinary research across the University. The shared workspace has been specifically designed to enhance science-to-policy translation and further increase our active engagement with UK businesses."

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said: "The Wolfson Foundation promotes and supports excellence and we are delighted again to be able to support the University of York. The University's research in atmospheric chemistry is exceptionally strong. It is an area of great significance and yet, despite this, there is a relatively paucity of outstanding groups working in this field in the UK."

The laboratories include facilities for trace gas measurements and chemical metrology; studies of aerosol and gas phase processes; atmosphere-biosphere exchange, and computer modelling of chemical mechanisms and atmospheric transport.

Atmospheric chemists at York were recently awarded nearly £208,000 from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to invest in new computing infrastructure to develop a 'virtual air' archive. This will allow them to perform retrospective analysis of stored samples of air.

The NERC funding forms of part of the Government's Big Data investment which aims to allow the UK research community to take advantage of existing environmental data for science and impact.

In total, the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories have received nearly £1m in capital investments from research councils in the last year, including £570k for a sophisticated high accuracy mass spectrometer, the world's first to be dedicated to environmental research.


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Materials provided by University of York. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


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University of York. "New laboratories to foster world-leading research into air quality, climate change." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 March 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140311100719.htm>.
University of York. (2014, March 11). New laboratories to foster world-leading research into air quality, climate change. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140311100719.htm
University of York. "New laboratories to foster world-leading research into air quality, climate change." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140311100719.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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