New University of Washington-led research attributes accelerated warming to reduced cloud reflectivity. As efforts to improve air quality have reduced pollution, clouds became less mirror-like,...

University of Washington Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science alum and University of Wisconsin–Madison atmospheric scientist Ángel F. Adames Corraliza has been awarded a prestigious MacArthur...

University of Washington researchers use AI to simulate the Earth’s current climate and interannual variability for up to 1,000 years. The model runs on a single processor and takes just 12 hours to.....

Warming of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) subtropical lower stratosphere is due to slowing of Brewer-Dobson Circulation, thus cooling the Antarctic lower stratosphere and masking anticipated ozone recov...

Ozonolysis of α-pinene is a significant and well-established source of atmospheric secondary organic aerosol (SOA), which plays a pivotal role in climate, air quality, and human health. The products of α-pinene ozonolysis measured experimentally are typically characterized by only their molecular formulas, while their structures and formation mechanisms often remain unclear. In this work, we theoretically map the oxidation pathways, structures, and formation time scales of the major first-generation products formed from α-pinene ozonolysis by calculating the H-shift and bond-scission reaction rate coefficients of the peroxy (RO2) and alkoxy (RO) radicals that arise under atmospheric conditions with different RO2 bimolecular reaction rates (kbi): polluted (kbi > 0.2 s–1), moderate (0.2 s–1 > kbi > 0.01 s–1), and pristine (kbi ≈ 0.01 s–1). In polluted environments, almost no RO2 unimolecular reactions are of importance and ozonolysis leads to nitrates and small fragmented products. By contrast, in moderate to pristine atmospheres, C10 highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) with up to 12 oxygen atoms can form from either purely unimolecular or a combination of unimolecular and bimolecular reactions. Our results suggest that explicit chemical mechanisms of α-pinene ozonolysis used ubiquitously in the literature require significant revision in their treatment of unimolecular-isomerization and stereoisomer-specific reactions.

University of Washington Provost Tricia R. Serio announced that Joel Thornton has agreed to serve as interim dean of the College of the Environment, effective July 1, until a new permanent dean is...

Maya Tolstoy is stepping down June 30 as the Maggie Walker Dean of the UW College of the Environment, returning to New York for family reasons. We sat down with Tolstoy as she reflected on leadership,...

A new University of Washington–led study projects that in the next 35 years increasing boreal fires will actually slow global warming by 12% globally and 38% in the Arctic. Because the aerosols in...

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, is a system of ocean currents that plays a crucial role in regulating Earth’s climate by transporting heat from the Southern to Northern...