NMC Supports Research and Students at New Mexico Tech

For the last 4 years, the New Mexico Consortium (NMC) has been proud to support the research of Dr. Christian M. Carrico at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Civil & Environmental Engineering. This research project titled “Climate Relevant Aerosol and Gas-Phase Properties in the Southwest US” is in collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Division.

NMC funding for this project has primarily been used to support undergraduate and graduate students at New Mexico Tech during the academic year, to pay for research supplies and equipment, and also for laboratory research.

In the last two years, this research has focused on the construction of a controlled relative humidity cavity attenuated phase shift (CAPS) instrument for measuring the RH dependence of light extinction as well as single scattering albedo. Dr. Carrico and students also focused on continued data analysis from measurements in summers 2018-2019, analysis of fuel and soil samples, and the collection of additional fuel and soil samples. This is in an effort to examine the relationship between fuels-soils-biomass smoke in determining the hygroscopic and other properties of fresh smoke emissions.

NMC support is also used to train undergraduate students for summer research intensives, which has then led to M.S. theses work as well as collaborative work during the academic year. Some of the students and their work funded by the NMC include:

• Charlotte Dungan, Carbonaceous Aerosols & Climate Topic, Starting August 2020
• Samantha Gomez, Laboratory Study of Semi-arid Biomass Smoke Hygroscopicity: Role of Phenology, Chemistry and Combustion Conditions, graduated spring 2018.
• Sonagnon Dabli, Modified Combustion Efficiency (MCE) and its Effect on Emissions from Biomass Burning, M.S. Thesis, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, graduated fall 2017.
• Samantha Bixler , Los Alamos National Laboratory, Support of NMT MS Student as LANL employee, August 2017-June 2018.
• Undergraduate students support include: Jared Lam, Jaimy Karacaoglu, Sabina Gulick, Mariah Smith, Esperanza Aguilar, Naudiea Davis, Caroline Allen, Samantha Bixler

This research has led to many refereed publications and book chapters published or in press (2016-2020):

• Optical and chemical analysis of absorption enhancement by mixed carbonaceous aerosols in the 2019 Woodbury, AZ fire plume, J.E. Lee, M.K. Dubey, A.C. Aiken, P. Chylek, and C.M. Carrico, J Geophys. Res. Atmos., doi: 10.1029/2020JD032399, 2020.
• Optical Properties of Laboratory and Ambient Biomass Burning Aerosols: Elucidating Black, Brown, and Organic Carbon Components and Mixing Regimes, D. E. Romonosky, S. L. Gomez, J. Lam, C. M. Carrico, A. C. Aiken, P. Chylek, and M. K. Dubey, J Geophys. Res.-Atmospheres, doi: 10.1029/2018JD029892, 2019.
• Mie scattering captures observed optical properties of ambient biomass burning plumes assuming uniform black, brown, and organic carbon mixtures, P. Chylek, J.E. Lee, D.E., Romonosky, F. Gallo, S. Lou, M.J. Shrivastava, C.M. Carrico, A.C. Aiken, and M. K. Dubey, Geophys. Res. Atmos., 124, 11,406-11,427, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD031224, 2019.
• Southwestern U.S. biomass burning smoke hygroscopicity: The role of plant phenology, chemistry and combustion properties, Gomez, S. L., C. M. Carrico, C. Allen, J. Lam, S. Dabli, A.P. Sullivan, A. C. Aiken, T. Rahn, D. Romonosky, P. Chylek, S. Sevanto and M. K. Dubey,  J Geophys. Res. Atmos., 123, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JD028162, 2018.
• Low Hygroscopicity of Ambient Fresh Carbonaceous Aerosols from Pyrotechnics Smoke, C.M. Carrico, S. Gomez, M.K. Dubey, A.C. Aiken, Environ, 178, 101–108, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.01.024, 2018.
• Atmospheric Aerosols and Their Measurement, Invited Chapter in the Handbook of Environmental Engineering, edited by Myer Kutz, John Wiley and Sons Publishing, 2018.
• NO_x Instrument Intercomparison for Laboratory Biomass Burning Source Studies and Ambient Urban Measurements in Albuquerque, New Mexico, C. Allen, C.M. Carrico, S. Gomez, M. Dubey, A. Aiken, T. Rahn, S. Sevanto, Air & Waste Manage., 68, 11, 1175-1189, DOI: 10.1080/10962247.2018.1487347, 2018.