<div dir="ltr">Dear SEHE colleagues,<br><div><br></div><div>We're hosting Scott Fendorf from Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, who will give a talk about creating a new air quality index based on toxins and health outcomes (rather than just particle size). Please feel free to sign up to meet with him if you'd like. His talk title and abstract are provided below:</div><div><a href="http://goog_1222482133/" target="_blank"><br></a></div><div><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gznlFdv0cFCCvkeIEcv5b3PQ3HdN_6OgqbPQ3ZHNxfg/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gznlFdv0cFCCvkeIEcv5b3PQ3HdN_6OgqbPQ3ZHNxfg/edit?usp=sharing</a></div><div><br></div><div><span id="m_-2107630107503698454m_-5197800783539684526gmail-docs-internal-guid-c7a8ded2-7fff-3243-cdfc-e3eec8f65fd8"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Moving Beyond PM2.5 and AQI: Wildfire Metal Toxins We Breathe</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font size="1"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Abstract</span><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">: Wildfires are increasing in severity, frequency, and distribution globally. While essential for ecosystem function, increasing fire severity is leading to devastating impacts on </span></font><span style="font-size:x-small;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Nunito,sans-serif">ecosystem processes. Although appreciable attention has been devoted to fine</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">particulate matter derived from wildfires, the production of toxic metals within fine</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">particulate matter has largely gone unrecognized. We use a combination of laboratory</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">experiments, field measurements, and data science approaches to evaluate metal</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">particulate chemistry and transport from wildfires. Further, we examine the particle size</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">distribution and chemistry. Using a unique natural (field) matrix, we show that fire</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">severity, geologic substrate, and ecosystem type control metal concentration and</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">chemistry. Chromium is the largest risk driver in wildland fires, with lead being the</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">largest risk from fires at wildland-urban interface. Importantly, metal concentrations are</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">highest from fires burning on metal-rich geologies, and metals are enriches in ultrafine</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">particles that are less than 0.250 microns in diameter. Critically, the fine particulate</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">matter can transport many hundreds of kilometers, with metals often being most</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">concentrated on moderate air quality days. Our results illustrate a need to move from</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">PM2.5 and the Air Quality Index that are blind to particle chemistry to a metric that</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1">captures the chemistry and fine-particle distribution of toxins.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1"><br></font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Nunito,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><font size="1"><br></font></span></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Nunito, sans-serif">Best wishes,</font></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Nunito, sans-serif">sam</font></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Nunito, sans-serif"><br></font></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Nunito, sans-serif">---</font></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="Nunito, sans-serif" color="#999999">Sam Ying</font></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="Nunito, sans-serif" color="#999999">Associate Professor of Biogeochemistry</font></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="Nunito, sans-serif" color="#999999">The Dirty Lab - </font><span style="color:rgb(153,153,153);font-family:Nunito,sans-serif">Environmental Sciences Department</span></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Nunito, sans-serif"><br></font></p></span></div></div>