Visitor Information: The Visitors Center and entrance to the Boulder Department of Commerce facilities are located on Broadway at Rayleigh Road. All visiting seminar attendees, including pedestrians and bike riders, are required to check in at the Visitors Center at the Security Checkpoint to receive a visitor badge. Seminar attendees need to present a valid photo ID and mention the seminar title or the speaker's name to obtain a visitor badge. .
Upcoming Seminars
| Title: | Iodine in the Anthropocene: Ozone layer health, Oxidative capacity, and Methane trends
|
| Speaker: |
Rainer Volkamer
Rainer Volkamer is a Professor of Chemistry and CIRES Fellow at CU Boulder. He received his PhD in Environmental Physics from the University of Heidelberg (2001); held post-doctoral fellowships at M.I.T. (2002-2005) and U.C.-San Diego (2005-2007) studying Air Quality in Mexico City. At CU, Rainer teaches Analytical Atmospheric Spectroscopy and Atmospheric Chemistry, and together with his group develops innovative instrumentation (in-situ & remote sensing) for use on aircraft and autonomous surface networks. Sensors developed in his lab operate at Mauna Loa Observatory (3400 a.s.l., 2017-2022), Maido Observatory, Reunion Island (2200m a.s.l., 2017-2026), and Denver, CO (upcoming). He is active in SOLAS, TOAR-2, and a member of the CLOUD consortium at CERN, Switzerland.
|
|---|
| Date/Time: |
Thursday, August 27, 2026 01:00 PM MDT (-0600)
   |
| Location: |
David Skaggs Research Center, Room GC402
Google Meet |
Abstract
Iodine is a micronutrient and atmospheric trace element that rivals isoprene in terms of atmospheric impacts on ozone, oxidation capacity, and particle formation. Oceans emit iodine as organic very short lived species (VSLS) and abiotic inorganic source gases, which undergo rapid catalytic reaction cycles that destroy ozone, modify oxidative capacity, nucleate particles, and can oxidize elemental mercury (cold temperatures). Iodine emissions have tripled in recent decades due to anthropogenic enhancements of abiotic ocean emissions triggered by the deposition of pollution ozone and thinning sea ice. While today’s iodine emissions are believed to be small compared to early Earth, they increasingly modify Ozone layer health. This presentation reviews the historical perspective on iodine in WMO ozone assessment reports, and presents first simultaneous measurements of organic VSLS, inorganic iodine in gas- and particulate form aboard research aircraft in the lower stratosphere (TI3GER field campaign). The multiphase chemistry during convective transport remains poorly understood, and is assessed using laboratory experiments, field observations up to 15km altitude, and comparison with atmospheric models. The potential for long-term observations using autonomous sensors placed at remote island mountain tops presents a cost-effective alternative to research aircraft to inform iodine oxide radical abundances in remote tropical air masses, where iodine is particularly relevant to methane removal rates.
|
Archives
