![\"AAAR_underdogs1\"](\"http:\/\/blog.epa.gov\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/AAAR_underdogs1.jpg\" "\\"AAAR_underdogs1\\"")
Andy Greishop and Ben Murphy call themselves underdogs.<\/p>\nAndy Greishop and Ben Murphy call themselves underdogs.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few years ago when we presented our research… people would just stare at us blankly,” Andy recalled.<\/p>\n
But now, several years and publications later, the skeptical tone has changed. During a presentation at the 2010 AAAR conference in San Diego, audience members seemed encouraged by what they saw.<\/p>\n
Andy and Ben are two members of a group of Carnegie Mellon scientists who have spent years trying to fill a big blind spot in atmospheric modeling.<\/p>\n
Historically, most models of atmospheric air pollution significantly underestimated the amount of a specific kind of particle, called secondary organic aerosol (SOA).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we actually observe in the atmosphere is a factor of 3 \u2013 100 times more than the SOA traditional models predict,\u201d Greishop explained.<\/p>\n
This means that the information used by scientists and policymakers to make important pollution control decisions is not representing everything that people breathe.<\/p>\n
According to Greishop and Murphy, the traditional models overlook some key reactions and processes that take place as particles age and transform in the atmosphere. Most people do not breathe particles emitted directly from a tail pipe, they explained. People breathe in particles that have spent time in the air, moving and reacting with other chemicals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen particles dilute, evaporate and then condense back to particles, a lot about them changes,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n
Some of these changes could be important to human health.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealth researchers need accurate models to understand what people are actually exposed to,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n
If SOA, as some preliminary studies suggest, is more toxic to people, the new models could be critical for protection of public health.<\/p>\n
The new model incorporates atmospheric processes that contribute to SOA formation and does a much better job of predicting what people breathe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty close to right-on,\u201d Greishop said, “in terms of matching what we observe in the atmosphere.”<\/p>\n
Though more research needs to be done to \u201cdrill deeper\u201d into atmospheric processes that may change particles, both scientists agree that this finding could have a big impact.<\/p>\n
Their research is already being incorporated into state and local air quality models that are used to manage and control pollution.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never really expect that your specific research in atmospheric chemistry may be important for national policy so early on in your career,” Greishop said excitedly.<\/p>\n
“This has been a really great opportunity for us to make a difference.”<\/p>\n
About the Author: Becky Fried is a science writer with EPA\u2019s National Center for Environmental Research. Her OnAir posts are a regular \u201cScience Wednesday\u201d feature.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Andy Greishop and Ben Murphy call themselves underdogs. \u201cA few years ago when we presented our research… people would just stare at us blankly,” Andy recalled. But now, several years and publications later, the skeptical tone has changed. During a presentation at the 2010 AAAR conference in San Diego, audience members seemed encouraged by what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-518101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}