Emily Chu
B.S. Chemistry University of Connecticut |
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Current Research
According to theoretical models, hydrocarbons aerosols can resolve the Faint Young Sun Paradox by warming the Earth's surface, thus accounting for geological evidence of liquid water 3.8 billion years ago despite a fainter sun. On the contrary, other models indicate the aerosols would have cooled the surface of Earth, thus exacerbating the paradox. My research consists of two major goals: the first is to determine how easily hydrocarbon aerosols can form in a CO2-environment by using mass spectrometry to systematically study particle formation as a function of CO2 and CH4 partial pressures. The second goal is to determine how the aerosols can affect atmospheric radiative transfer by studying their optical properties and size distribution through in situ laser radiation measurements and other “offline” analyses such as FESEM for further characterization.
