MAANURE Two-Point-Oh

In May 2024, I had the pleasure of participating in the next phase of the MAANURE field campaign, MAANURE 2, alongside my research group members Kifle, Tasnia, Danial, and Yash. This phase of the campaign lasted six weeks, offering us an extended period to deepen our research into nitrogenous emissions from agricultural sites under the guidance of my supervisor, Dr. Trevor VandenBoer. Over this time, we worked to build on the findings from the original campaign and explored new dynamics related to nitrogen fertilizers added by farmers during planting, soil interactions, and gas flux before, during and after soybean planting.

My first day back at the site felt like déjà vu, carefully transporting our instruments to the same purpose-built shed that housed them 2 years before. This time, however, we were better prepared with walls insulated in the shed, big shout out to Trevor! With additional experience under our belts and the support of the farm's owner, Casey VandenBoer and team, we were able to set up the instruments more efficiently. Our NOx analyzer, ozone analyzer, greenhouse gas analyzer were installed on the rack. We ran zero checks on all instruments and installed the chambers onto the soil collar. We connected the chambers to our analyzers using multiplexer where both the chambers were controlled by one software unlike original campaign. With our instruments calibrated, we left the site with automated measurements running around the clock, switched ZA cylinders on as needed basis, visited the site twice daily to ensure everything remained operational and to collect data. We also collected 32 soil samples before, during and after planting for further analysis.

While MAANURE 2 was a success, it was not without challenges. The weather was unpredictable, with very hot and humid days to severe wind, rainfall and thunderstorm. Some instruments required frequent recalibrations due to fluctuating temperatures, so we ran frequent zero checks and span checks biweekly. Some days were long with moving chambers from the collar and installing right back when the field was planted and fertilized. Replenishing the protective film to the chamber was needed frequently due to harsh wind blowing right through the chambers. Each challenge, however, provided us with valuable learning experiences that has prepared us for future campaigns.

At the end of the 6-week campaign, we packed up our equipment with a sense of accomplishment and anticipation. MAANURE 2 had exceeded our expectations, providing us with a wealth of data that we are eager to analyze in the coming months. As we continue to unravel the complexities of nitrogenous emissions from agricultural sites, MAANURE 2 has brought us one step closer to understanding these crucial environmental processes. I have gained real insights into fieldwork giving me much deeper appreciation for the dedication and expertise atmospheric scientists bring to field research. And, of course, we managed to carve out some time for the prettiest sunset at beaches with pizza, and great dinner conversations, proving that even in the midst of intense fieldwork, balance is the key.

-          Moxy Shah

Measurements of realistic nitrogenous emissions at an agricultural site – The MAANURE Campaign

   At the beginning of September 2022, I had the opportunity to participate in a two-week-long field research campaign at an agricultural field site with members of my research group Moxy, Fahim, Danial, and Leigh. Our research supervisor Trevor VandenBoer planned, organized and oversaw the entire campaign. The main overall objectives of this pilot study were three-fold: (1) to measure agricultural emissions of reactive nitrogen gases which are key atmospheric species affecting air quality and climate, (2) to better understand the processes at the soil interface that lead to these emissions, and (3) to investigate the effect of nitrogenous fertilizers, namely urea on the emission of these gases. Suitably, we named our field campaign MAANURE - Measurements of Agricultural Atmospheric Nitrogen: Understanding Realistic Emissions.

   The measurement site was situated on a soybean field in Lambton Shores, ON which is about two and a half hours west of Toronto and just south of Lake Huron. The region surrounding the field site was mostly croplands, wind farms, and animal farms. Adjacent to the measurement site, a shed was purpose-built to safely house and power all the instruments that we ran over the course of the campaign.

   On the first day of fieldwork, our goal was to transport all the instruments to the shed and begin setting them up for measurements. However, transporting and unloading the suite of instruments to the shed was no easy feat as the site was fairly remote and had very limited space for vehicular access. Luckily, the owners of the farm were generous enough to help us move our expensive and fragile instruments carefully using their specialized farming machinery/front end loaders which can fit through small spaces. We also encountered some practical challenges to accommodate all the instruments within the limited space in the shed and had to come up with solutions on the spot. By the end of the day, we managed to set up the instruments for ambient measurements. The instruments we had in the shed were namely, a NOx analyzer for measuring nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide, an ozone analyzer, a greenhouse gas and ammonia analyzer from Picarro, and a Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (CIMS).

   On the second day, we turned our focus on installing the Eosense gas flux chambers at the measurement site. The chambers were installed on bare soil by using dedicated soil collars which help keep the chambers firmly in place. One of the challenges with installing the chambers was picking an area of soil that was unperturbed with minimal soybean crops and allowing the base of the chambers to be primed into position for several hours before installing the top portion of the chambers. Next, we connected the chamber power lines and the gas sampling tubing to and from the chambers to all the analyzers in the shed. The chamber system was then set up for fully automated measurements using dedicated chamber software and custom codes run on a computer. Since the system was fully automated from that point on, for the remainder of the week we would simply visit the field site twice a day to ensure that the instruments were all functioning and that we were backing up our data.

   During the second week of the campaign, we decided to investigate the potential effects of added fertilizer on the soil surface enclosed by the chambers. To help us determine the appropriate amount of fertilizer to add, we found out the total amount of fertilizer farmers typically apply to soybean fields from the owner of our field site and scaled down the amount based on the soil surface area of interest. To our surprise, following the addition, the concentrations of reactive nitrogen gases were several orders of magnitude higher than pre-fertilization. We were aware that adding fertilizer could increase the emissions of these gases but did not anticipate the levels that we observed. We are content that we managed to capture these events in our datasets and look forward to analyzing them in the near future. I would like to give a shoutout to the owner of the field site, Casey VandenBoer who helped us tremendously throughout the campaign with logistical and technical issues and we are very grateful for having him on our team.

  Overall, this has been an eye-opening experience for me. I have gained real insights into the challenges of fieldwork and atmospheric data collection, and have a greater appreciation for atmospheric scientists and the measurements they make in fieldwork. Apart from fieldwork, we had the pleasure of visiting some of the nicest beaches in Ontario and enjoying the sunset with some pizza. At the end of each workday, we also gathered for dinner and had some great dinner conversations and laughs with group members.

Blog Post – Yashar Ebrahimi-Iranpour and Fahim Sarker

PFAS measurements for the Whale Initiative at Tadoussac, Quebec

During the month of June 2022, I was fortunate to participate in field work alongside Alessia Colussi in Tadoussac, Quebec. The area is located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence. We traveled from Toronto to Quebec City via plane and drove from Quebec City directly to Tadoussac, taking a ferry to cross the Saguenay Fjord. This fieldwork is a part of the Whale Initiative launched by the government of Canada on improving our knowledge on the transport and deposition of contaminants, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in at-risk whale habitats. PFAS have been found to be problematic due to their persistence in the environment and harmful effects on mammals, including whales. The field site, called the Hovington Farm, contained instruments such as a Medium Volume Particle Sampler for the collection PFAS in the atmosphere and Precipitation Collection Units for the collection of PFAS from wet and total deposition. In addition, the field site had passive samplers for the collection of gas-phase perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs), a sub-class of PFAS. Unique to passive samplers is their low cost and lack of the need of a power source, making them ideal for remote areas and large spatial scale deployment. Our goal at the Hovington Farm was to test and ensure the instruments were functional and perform any required maintenance. We also started a new sampling period for Medium Volume Samplers, Precipitation Collection Units and Passive Samplers by swapping new samples. In addition, we trained the new local site operators from Explos-Nature on how to properly exchange the samples for new upcoming sampling periods. They were very lovely people and we had full confidence in them after our training. Overall, I really enjoyed this field work experience. While we were not fortunate to see any whales, I had the opportunity to take a hike at the beautiful Saguenay Fjord National Park and to eat delicious French-Canadian food.

Fog and turbulence interactions in the marine atmosphere (FATIMA) Research Cruise

During the summer of 2022 I was fortunate to be able to participate on a research cruise in the North Atlantic, along with Leyla Salehpoor and Trevor VandenBoer. The cruise was a part of the FATIMA, a multi-million-dollar project funded by the US Office of Naval Research, whose aim is better understand the mechanisms of marine fog formation to enable better prediction. This research cruise was the first field campaign of the project and was focused on the Sable Island and Grand Banks regions off the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, respectively; one of the foggiest places in the world. There were a number of institutions and universities that participated in the cruise, including Notre Dame, the US Naval Postgraduate School, Scripps Oceanographic Institute, NOAA, and Dalhousie.

An earlier blog post by Leyla mentioned our preparation trip to Halifax, where we were based for ship mobilization. The vessel was the Atlantic Condor, which is normally a supply ship but was transformed into a research vessel during an intense set up and mobilization period prior to departure. During mobilization several sea container labs, sampling platforms, and a vast suite of instrumentation were installed on the ship in a seaworthy manner. It was one of the more complex set ups I have been involved in, taking over a week. During set up, Leyla, Trevor and I installed the gas and particle instrumentation that was our contribution to the project. We installed a suite of gas analyzers for NOx, O3, CO and a custom-built instrument. This last platform was for measuring the gaseous total reactive nitrogen budget and could focus in on basic species like NH3. We also deployed 2 MOUDI samplers for size-fractionated aerosol composition samples. Our ion chromatograph was installed in the on-board chemistry lab, to allow for rapid chemical analysis of the MOUDI samples. Leyla was particularly pleased with the spacious chemical lab we had access to. We also worked closely with collaborators from Prof. Rachel Chang’s group (Dalhousie), who installed instrumentation for measuring aerosol particle size distribution. In addition, there was vast array of instruments for aerosol physical, meteorological and oceanographic instrumentation deployed on the ship from the other research teams.

Once set up was complete, we left Halifax for a roughly 2 week cruise that passed Sable Island and made our way up towards the Hibernia oil rigs. After 2 weeks, the ship docked at St Johns, NL for supplies and at this point I left the cruise, to be replaced by Trevor. While at sea, Leyla and I were responsible for gas measurements (quality checks) and collecting the MOUDI samples. Field work on a ship was different to my previous experiences on land. The first challenge was to get used to motion of the sea when working, which took a few days. Another unique challenge was strapping down all instruments to ensure they didn’t move in rough seas. We were fortunate to encounter foggy conditions on multiple occasions, and our main challenge was to ensure our samplers were working in fog, so that we didn’t miss any important samples or data. Working closely with the team from Dalhousie, we were able to capture a number of fog events successfully, building a nice dataset that we look forward to working through.

Overall, I enjoyed my time at sea as part of this project. A highlight for me was meeting all the members of the science crew on the ship and learning from them about different research areas and meteorological and oceanographic instruments/techniques. In particular, I was taught to launch weather balloons.  I also really enjoyed the constant ocean view.

Leigh

Preparatory Trip to Halifax for Fatima Campaign ‒ Leyla Salehpoor

On February 22, 2022, I travelled to Halifax, Nova Scotia in preparation for an upcoming field campaign. During my trip, I visited collaborators at Dalhousie University and Wood PLC in Halifax before participating in the Fog and turbulence interactions in the marine atmosphere (Fatima) campaign this summer. This is a large ($12M USD) international project with collaborators from Canada, the UK, and the USA. The main measurements for this campaign will be taken aboard a research vessel (RV) travelling within the Grand Banks (Atlantic Ocean) starting in July. My contribution to the project is to perform comprehensive measurements of the chemical composition of the ambient marine aerosol. Sized-resolved aerosol samples will be collected using two Micro Orifice Uniform Impactors (MOUDIs) aboard the RV in conjunction with a suite of real-time gas and particulate phase monitors. During my trip to Halifax, I first visited Wood PLC that provided, on loan, a MOUDI and an accompanying housing unit for their (as well as our) equipment to sample onboard. Some modifications were required, such as installing a shared inlet to house the second MOUDI from York University prior to installing both systems on the RV. Then, I visited Dr. Rachel Chang, our collaborator at Dalhousie University, where all preparations and modifications of the MOUDI were performed in her lab. As the RV will depart from Halifax, Dr. Chang’s lab, logistically, is the best place to convene prior to departing on our field sampling voyage. Also, I became familiarized with the fog water sampler in her lab which I will use to compare fog and non-fog periods to better understand how aerosol chemistry affects fog formation in the campaign. Throughout this process, I applied and have been awarded the Academic Excellence Fund (Winter 2022) to support costs stemming from my trip to Halifax.

Introducing the HONO source to NOAA – Melodie Lao

In late February 2020, I had the pleasure of visiting the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Boulder, Colorado. The purpose of this five-day trip was the introduction of a new nitrous acid (HONO) source, that I had developed during my undergraduate honours thesis project, to be used in ongoing wildfire plume-related studies at NOAA. The trip to Boulder was exciting as I had just started my graduate studies as a masters student a month prior. Never would I have thought that I would be able to collaborate and introduce this analytical tool to a network of some of the world’s leading atmospheric chemists and researchers. I was able to perform multiple experiments with my HONO source alongside top-of-the-line atmospheric analytical instruments at the NOAA Chemical Science Laboratory (CSL). My collaborators at the CSL and I were able to produce a paper (currently under peer review*), which was a thoroughly enjoyable experience as each of my coauthors were extremely intelligent, friendly, and enthusiastic about this topic. They also shared with me so many of the neat tips and tricks that they use to improve functionality and overall design when building analytical instruments. Plus, I got to play around with a variety of cool gadgets as each of my collaborator’s labs were unique to their research and respective teams.

Figures (a) is the HONO source I built for NOAA CSL, (b) and (c) are NOAA instruments that were calibrated by the HONO source, (d) is the entrance to NOAA in the morning, (e) is a picture of myself in Chautauqua Park, and (f) is a banner representing stout week at a local brewery.

Outside of the lab, I got to experience the beauty of Boulder. Every morning I was greeted by the Flatirons (see photos below)  as I walked to NOAA. The wintertime weather in Boulder is beautiful as it is not too cold, even on snowy days. However, when it did snow, Boulder snowfalls were heavy but dry as the snow quickly evaporated once it hit the ground. I was also able to visit downtown Boulder (Pearl Street Mall) and hike along trails in Chautauqua Park. All of this was in addition to grabbing a few pints of stouts with scientists as Boulder is known for their craft beer and lucky me, it was stout week at many of the breweries I visited! Overall, I am so grateful for this experience as it allowed me to explore a beautiful city as well as network and learn from remarkable scientists. This trip ultimately reaffirmed just how passionate I am about my research and the scientific community that I am a part of.

A picture of the Boulder’s beautiful landscape featuring the Flatirons. This picture was taken on Chautauqua Park at dusk.

P.S. Always stay hydrated - adjusting to the higher altitude in Colorado can be tough!

*Please check out my paper! - https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-209

The Québec Diaries* - Alessia Colussi

Having only started my graduate studies in September 2019, I quickly jumped at the chance to participate in fieldwork. Landing in Québec City on November 23rd, I spent the next 5 days cruising along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River with a colleague from Environment and Climate Change Canada. Our fieldwork involved the deployment of passive air samplers (PAS) in various population-based locations classified as either urban, industrial, small town, or village areas. This sampler deployment is involved with my graduate project, fondly referred to as “The Whale Project,” and aims to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms for a man-made class of contaminants known as perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS).

(Context: Due to an ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify, PFAS exposures have been associated with adverse health effects in both humans and wildlife. Studies examining PFAS contamination in aquatic food webs have exposed the risk they pose to apex predators such as seals, polar bears, and whales. Consequently, the 2018 Canadian federal budget provided funding for the protection and recovery of nationally at-risk whale populations. This research proposes to examine atmospheric sources of PFAS in those areas home to the St. Lawrence Estuary Belugas and the Southern Resident Killer Whales.)

In short, the samplers function as a filter pack assembly: at the bottom of a petri dish, a filter is sandwiched in between 2 rings with a second type of filter above it and a plastic ring at the top to keep the components firmly in place. A strip of Velcro is placed at the bottom of the petri dish which is then stuck to the roof of a weatherproof, capped housing setup. At five chosen sites, triplicates of these samplers were hung in trees – fingers crossed that they’re all still where I left them! Although this was relatively short for a field campaign, I truly am grateful for the opportunity I was given. This trip not only gave me firsthand experience of what it’s like to be in the field but also opened my eyes to the crazy amount of organization, teamwork, and enthusiasm needed to prepare for any sort of fieldwork. It was an added bonus that I was able to get in some sightseeing over the 5 days and see places that I never would have thought to travel to. Overall, this trip to Québec was the perfect introduction to fieldwork and I look forward to any and all future opportunities!

*Was the title of my daily, 60-second, snapchat “vlogs”