Associate Professor, Engineering
and Public Policy and Civil
and Environmental Engineering.
Climatic effects of atmospheric particulate matter
(aerosols), global and regional models of atmospheric
chemistry, and air quality in developing countries.
B.S. 1996, Cornell University
M.S. 1998, California Institute of Technology
Ph.D. 2001, California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon 2001 -.
Aerosol Effects on Climate
Anthropogenic aerosols cool the earth's climate
by reflecting sunlight back to space and by serving
as nuclei for cloud droplet formation. Their net effect
has been to partially offset global warming from greenhouse
gases, but uncertainty in the magnitude of this effect
has complicated the assessment and forecasting of
climate change. Research in this area focuses on improving
the representation of aerosols in global climate,
chemistry, and transport models by incorporating size-resolved
aerosol microphysics and thermodynamics and testing
these improved aerosol models against observations
from ground networks, intensive field campaigns, and
satellites. Other work examines how aerosols influence
cloud reflectivity in small-scale, detailed simulations
of cloud formation.
Regional Air Quality Modeling
Regional air quality models are being developed that
predict the concentrations of ozone and particulate
matter resulting from a given set of emissions. Specific
goals in this area of research are to improve the
computational efficiency of air quality models such
that multi-year time periods can be simulated, better
constrain the emissions of ammonia through inverse
modeling, and examine the costs and benefits of air
pollution control policies in developing countries.
Representative Publications/Presentations
Dawson, J.P., P.J. Adams, and S.N. Pandis, Sensitivity of PM2.5 to climate
in the Eastern US: a modeling case study, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics,
7, 4295-4309, 2007.
Gilmore, E. A., L. B. Lave, and P. J. Adams, The costs, air quality and
human health effects of meeting peak electricity demand with installed
backup generators, Environ. Sci. Tech., 40, 6887-6893, 2006.
Jung, J.G., P.J. Adams, and S.N. Pandis, Simulating the size distribution
and chemical composition of ultrafine particles during nucleation events,
Atmos. Environ., 40 (13), 2248-2259, 2006.
Pierce, J.R., and P.J. Adams, Global evaluation of CCN formation by direct
emission of sea salt and growth of ultrafine sea salt, J. Geophys. Res.,
111, 10.1029/2005JD006186, 2006.
Pinder, R. W., P. J. Adams, and S. N. Pandis, Ammonia emission controls as a
cost-effective strategy for reducing atmospheric particulate matter in the
Eastern US, Environ. Sci. Tech., 41, 380-386, 2006.
Racherla, P. N., and P. J. Adams, Sensitivity of global ozone and fine
particulate matter concentrations to climate change, J. Geophys. Res., 111,
doi:10.1029/2005JD006939, 2006.
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