Atmospheric Nitrogen Emissions from Cities and Farms: Air Quality to Climate Impacts

Chantelle Lonsdale

PhD Candidate,

Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

University at Buffalo

Friday, May 7, 2024 | 12:30 p.m. | 223 Jarvis Hall

Anthropogenic emissions of nitrogen to the atmosphere have air quality and climate implications. Short-lived species, like nitrogen oxides (NOx), can stay aloft locally and cause adverse health effects. Long-lived nitrogen species, like nitrous oxide, can stay in the atmosphere for over 100 years resulting in a global warming potential more than 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Understanding and quantifying these emissions are essential to understanding their ultimate impact on human health and the Earth system. A combination of measuring and remote sensing techniques will be presented including results that better represent global and regional emissions of each atmospheric constituent, including a novel mobile spectrometer framework deployed around UB and the US Corn Belt. 

Chantelle Lonsdale is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo. She is investigating methods to determine atmospheric nitrogen emissions from agricultural and urban sources leading to climate and air quality implications. Prior to her PhD, Chantelle graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a B.S. in Earth Science, and from Dalhousie University in Canada with a M.S. in Atmospheric Science. She spent several years at Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc., in Lexington, Massachusetts where she served as manager and Staff Scientist on projects related to air quality chemical transport modeling for the EPA, NOAA and NASA. She has several first-author papers investigating atmospheric gases and aerosols that impact human health, air quality, and climate. Chantelle’s aspiration is to bring her enthusiasm and knowledge of the Earth’s atmosphere and climate system to educate future scientists and engineers on the current state, and help them to create a better, more efficient system that can be enjoyed by future generations.