Collaborative Research: Quantifying the Sources and Sinks of Reactive Trace Gases in Agricultural Ecosystems and their Contribution to Aerosol Production

This project will improve understanding of atmospheric chemistry in agricultural areas using novel observations over both cropland and livestock facilities. Due to population growth and rising food demand, agricultural ecosystems now cover nearly half of the land area in the United States, but farmland-atmosphere interactions and their impacts on atmospheric chemistry remain poorly understood due to limited observations. This work will produce the first direct measurements of volatile organic compound (VOC) fluxes over livestock operations and multiple crop types and advance knowledge of particle chemistry in those regions. The results of the study are expected to benefit public and environmental health by improving understanding of the role of agriculture in air quality. The project features significant student involvement and aims to expand its reach through collaborations with other federal agency partners. The research will advance mechanistic understanding of the bidirectional surface-atmosphere exchange of VOCs over farmland and their influence on near surface chemistry and aerosol formation with the following approach: 1) Quantify the speciation, direction, and magnitude of VOC fluxes across croplands and a livestock facility in Indiana and identify their spatiotemporal drivers using factor analysis and machine learning. 2) Characterize the physical and chemical properties of submicron particulate matter over these agricultural landscapes and identify processes driving their origin and evolution. 3) Use these new observations to advance chemical transport model representation of farmland environments. Broadly, the new measurements obtained here will enable identification of the emissions that contribute most to atmospheric ozone and aerosol production, pollutants that in turn influence crop yields and livestock health. The foundational work in this study will inform biotechnology applications for improving tolerance to environmental stressors, optimizing microbiome and nutrient management, and supporting development of low-emission agricultural systems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2534788 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Hannah Kenagy | Institution: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, MINNEAPOLIS, MN | Award Amount: $481,441 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2534788 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2534788.html