CLAIRE-UK
Biogenic trace gases influence tropospheric gas phase chemistry and may be precursors to particle formation and mass. They therefore have effects both on air quality and on the
radiation balance (and hence climate system) of the Earth. CLAIRE-UK will address specific key questions of current importance to understanding biosphere-atmosphere interactions
in Amazonia. The project objectives are:
1. To quantify canopy-scale bVOC (isoprene, total monoterpenes, other selected VOCs) emission rates from the rainforest over 12 months, including during both the wet and dry seasons,
with concurrent measurement of selected gas-phase bVOC oxidation products (methacrolein, methyl- and ethyl- vinyl ketone, epoxides etc);
2. To detect and quantify the formation of bSOA and primary biological aerosol through size- and composition-resolved particle flux measurements at the canopy scale, in relation to
primary emissions and meteorological drivers;
3. To link in-canopy processes to canopy scale fluxes of bVOCs and aerosols, through a combination of in-canopy measurements of gases and aerosols and simulations with a 1-D inverse
Lagrangian transport model;
4. To quantify the cycling of reactive nitrogen (and sulphur) compounds between the forest and the atmosphere and their controls;
5. To simulate biosphere-atmosphere interactions (VOC emissions-atmospheric chemistry-SOA formation) in this ecosystem using a combination of box, Lagrangian and mesoscale Eulerian
air quality models, critically testing model gas-phase photo-oxidant chemistry, deposition of reactive intermediates, and the production of condensable mass; and
6. To predict, using the same suite of models, the response of atmospheric composition, at local to regional scale, to plausible land-use and climate change scenarios.
CLAIRE-UK is a collaborative project between the University of Lancaster Environment Centre and CEH Edinburgh.