Sustainably Navigating Arctic Pollution Through Engaging Communities (SNAP-TEC)

NSF Award #1927750, #1927778

The Sustainably Navigating Arctic Pollution - Through Engaging Communities (SNAP-TEC) project was a part of the Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) program, which was one of NSF's "10 Big Ideas". The project grew from community concerns about poor air quality that often plagues Northern Cities like Fairbanks, Alaska, during wintertime. Addressing air quality in a rapidly changing and industrializing Arctic is of critical concern for the health of residents, responsible development of cities, and development of Arctic-effective pollution control strategies. Wintertime pollution naturally lies at the intersection of the natural environment, the built environment, and social systems, so we applied a convergence approach to build a research and knowledge co-generation program that has direct impacts on the community. The SNAP-TEC project was the cornerstone of the Alaskan Layered Pollution And Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) field study, which was carried out in Fairbanks, AK, during January and February 2022 and brought together dozens of researchers from twenty institutions to study these problems.

The project's intellectual merits included finding novel chemicals in particulate matter that are formed through the extreme cold and dark conditions. These cold conditions also attract semi-volatile chemicals like ammonia and organic gases into the particle phase, increasing particulate matter mass concentration and reducing the acidity of the particulate matter, which allows unique chemical processes to occur. Indoor air quality was of particular concern for Fairbanks residents who spend most of their winter days inside. We found that infiltration of air into a house reduced particulate matter significantly, but also that upon warming of these particles some chemicals evaporated leading to gas-phase pollution in the house. We studied indoor sources such as cooking and heating devices (e.g., a pellet stove) and found that indoor sources can make indoor particulate matter concentrations exceed that of outdoors. However, analysis of the toxicity of the particles to human health suggest that by far smoke from a wood burning heating device were potentially the most detrimental. Therefore, although air infiltration into the house reduces pollution, residents need to be careful about indoor activities to reduce exposure to pollution. Pollution events are typically associated with strong temperature inversions that trap pollution near ground level, but the vertical scale of this trapping was unknown before this work, which showed the polluted layer is only 100-200 feet thick. We found that during strong inversion events, the intensity of pollution hotspots on the valley floor becomes larger and inter-neighborhood differences in pollution become more extreme. We increased knowledge about local preferences on how the community would like to address these air pollution problems, comparing education, incentives, and regulatory approaches. This work will help stakeholders to propose locally appropriate solutions. The design of the study and first findings were published in an article entitled "Overview of the Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) Field Experiment", along with over a dozen specialized scientific publications to date. We made special efforts to assure open public access to these community relevant research publications. Although the study was done in Fairbanks, the increased understanding of cold climate pollution has implications for many Arctic cities and also for sulfate formation in China or other developing countries. 

The project had broader impacts through many community engagement activities. The project grew from community concerns and began with public meetings that continued throughout the study and into the reporting phase. We partnered with a teacher at a local school to build seventy-five small air quality sensors and assisted middle school science students in designing and carrying out studies with them. Many of the research questions were motivated by community concerns, so we have written seven articles that have been published in the local newspaper, the Fairbanks Daily News Miner and also are on our public-facing website, https://fairair.community.uaf.edu. We provided expert testimony on our findings to local air quality regulators, the State of Alaska, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The findings of new chemical species was incorporated into EPA pollution models to help better assess methods to improve Fairbanks air quality. Through these efforts, we hope to assist Fairbanks and other Northern communities in designing appropriate sustainable development frameworks with the goal of improving air quality for Arctic peoples in general.

NSF Award #1927936

The Sustainably Navigating Arctic Pollution - Through Engaging Communities (SNAP-TEC) project was a part of the Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) program, which was one of NSF's "10 Big Ideas". The project grew from community concerns about poor air quality that often plagues Northern Cities like Fairbanks, Alaska, during wintertime. Addressing air quality in a rapidly changing and industrializing Arctic is of critical concern for the health of residents, responsible development of cities, and development of Arctic-effective pollution control strategies. Wintertime pollution naturally lies at the intersection of the natural environment, the built environment, and social systems, so we applied a convergence approach to build a research and knowledge co-generation program that has direct impacts on the community. The SNAP-TEC project was the cornerstone of the Alaskan Layered Pollution And Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) field study, which was carried out in Fairbanks, AK, during January and February 2022 and brought together dozens of researchers from twenty institutions to study these problems.

One of the questions asked by residents was about sources of pollution and the role of surface temperature inversions in trapping air pollution in winter. Observations of the vertical concentration profiles of pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, SO2, nitrogen dioxide, NO2, and ozone, O3, by the University of California Los Angeles, UCLA and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, UAF, clearly show that pollution is concentrated in a 100 – 200 ft high surface layer during pollution events. The air above this layer is relatively clean, and we see little evidence of emissions from Fairbanks power plants mixing downward to downtown breathing level. This leads to the conclusion that surface pollutants predominately originate from residential heating, traffic, and other surface sources. The polluted surface layer coincides with temperature inversions, which form when winds are weak. Our model calculations show that temperature gradients in the lower 60 ft of the atmosphere coupled with ground-level emissions can successfully be used to describe pollutants concentrations and air chemistry in the polluted layer.

Our observations and model results show that, despite low light levels and temperatures, active air chemistry occurs in the polluted surface layer. This chemistry is driven by emission of nitrous acid, HONO, from traffic or snow. This surprising finding points to understudied chemical mechanisms in cold wintertime cities, that require further study.  

We increased knowledge about local preferences on how the community would like to address these air pollution problems, comparing education, incentives, and regulatory approaches. This work will help stakeholders to propose locally appropriate solutions. The design of the study and first findings were published in an article entitled "Overview of the Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) Field Experiment", along with over a dozen specialized scientific publications to date. We made special efforts to assure open public access to these community relevant research publications. Although the study was done in Fairbanks, the increased understanding of cold climate pollution has implications for many Arctic cities and for sulfate formation in China or other developing countries. 

The project had broader impacts through many community engagement activities. The project grew from community concerns and began with public meetings that continued throughout the study and into the reporting phase. Many of the research questions were motivated by community concerns, so we have written seven articles that have been published in the local newspaper, the Fairbanks Daily News Miner and are on our public-facing website, https://fairair.community.uaf.edu. We provided expert testimony on our findings to local air quality regulators, the State of Alaska, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Through these efforts, we hope to assist Fairbanks and other Northern communities in designing appropriate sustainable development frameworks with the goal of improving air quality for Arctic peoples.

Although this grant has been completed, the efforts started here continue with publication of more scientific and popular press articles to share our results and engage communities. The broad ALPACA efforts can be viewed on its website, https://alpaca.community.uaf.edu.

NSF Award #1927867

Sustainably Navigating Arctic Pollution -- Through Engaging Communities (SNAP-TEC) was a project funded through NSF’s Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) program that focused on improving understanding of wintertime Arctic outdoor and indoor air pollution.  Highly collaborative field studies utilizing cutting-edge technologies and methodologies along with community engagement were the fundamental components of project objectives.  Community discussions and surveys assisted researchers in identifying local concerns regarding air quality, and in designing appropriate sustainable development frameworks, with the goal of improving air quality for Arctic peoples.  Several collaborative awards were assigned. The award to Washington University in St. Louis was focused on determining the sources of indoor and outdoor air pollutants in a test home in Fairbanks, Alaska.  Additionally, these measurements were designed to determine the phase partitioning of pollutants that are semivolatile in nature, meaning they transfer back and forth between the gas and particle phase as the air heats, cools, or undergoes other related processes.  That phase partitioning can alter where these (often toxic) compounds deposit in the respiratory tract and thus their health impact on the body.  Major sources identified included outdoor woodsmoke, vehicle exhaust, heating oil combustion, indoor materials and products, and controlled indoor activity emissions were measured from cooking and pellet stove combustion.  Outdoor particles infiltrating into the home were observed to be more stable than predicted (did not evaporate in the warmer air) and they absorbed indoor pollutants from materials and personal care products onto the particles.  Inhalation of these particles could deposit deep in the respiratory tract, leading to possible health impacts.  Home air filtration could assist in limiting such exposures in cold environments where window ventilation is not practical.  Doctoral student training, undergraduate research experience, and community communications were performed throughout this project.

NSF Award #2012905

The ALPACA field experiment, which stands for Alaska Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis provided an opportunity for researchers from across the United States and European collaborators to study air pollution problems in Fairbanks, Alaska. The results of this project provide insights into the sources of air pollutants and how they change in cold and dark environments.  

The team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University were interested in the following specific questions: 

1. What are the main sources of air pollutants like particulate matter in the winter in Fairbanks, AK?
2. How does air pollution change across an arctic city like Fairbanks, AK.
3. How much air pollution gets indoors from outside and how do the temperature increase and relative humidity decrease from outside to inside change the air pollutants.
4. How do indoor activities like cooking and running a pellet stove change the indoor air pollution levels

Due to a COVID related delay in our field project we started the field measurements one year later than originally planned.  That time allowed for us to investigate a long-term dataset of particle pollution with colleagues from University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and Georgia Tech.  We learned that the highest levels of pollution occur in the wintertime and summertime.  Wintertime levels of air pollution are mainly due to sources like vehicle emissions, home heating with wood or fuel oil, with some additional chemical reactions leading to additional particulate pollution. Summertime levels are sporadic and due to wildfires nearby or from far-away fires with smoke transported long distances.

During the ALPACA field experiment in addition to making measurements at a rented house, we used a vehicle to make measurements of particle matter around the city of Fairbanks.  Depending on whether there was an inversion, which traps pollution close to the ground, or not we could show that depending on where we were in the city, we could have different levels of particulate pollution during inversion periods.  When there was not an inversion, the differences in pollution were a lot less across Fairbanks.

Finally, the measurements of air pollutants that we made at the house showed some key insights for people who live in Fairbanks.  First, houses can protect against outdoor air pollutants like particulate matter.  Only a small fraction about 20% of the particulate matter pollution from outside makes it indoors.  This is lower than other places we have made measurements and is probably due to the stricter building codes that are used for residential houses in colder climates which make houses more airtight.  That airtightness can also lead to higher levels of indoor pollution when people cook or run pellet stoves.  Our study showed that high levels of particulate matter indoors were found when we used a pellet stove, cooked, or a combination of pellet stove and cooking.  Understanding how to reduce the levels of air pollution inside can protect residents of Fairbanks from inhaling high levels of air pollutants.