Slyvia Li
MIT Department: Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Prof. Arlene Fiore
Research Supervisor: Steph Elkins, Qindan Zhu
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Santa Barbara
Website:
Biography
Sylvia Li is a rising senior at the University of California Santa Barbara, where she is double majoring in Earth Science and Data Science. Sylvia is interested in the intersection between the two fields and using modeling to characterize the Earth system, especially in topics of ocean biogeochemistry, atmospheric chemistry and carbon in the climate system. This summer, she is working with Dr. Arlene Fiore on analyzing various simulations of an idealized climate model to determine the effects of biogenic and anthropogenic volatile organic compounds(VOCs) on methane and ozone concentrations in the atmosphere. At UCSB, Sylvia works withDr. Morgan Raven, investigating the sulfurization of organic matter in anoxic conditions and its potential as a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy. She is passionate about uplifting women in technical fields and is a part of Alpha Sigma Kappa, a sorority for women in STEM. Sylvia hopes to continue making a positive difference on Earth’s future as she works toward a graduate degree.
Abstract
Biogenic and Anthropogenic VOC effects on Methane’s Largest Sink
Sylvia Li1, Qindan Zhu2, and Arlene Fiore2
1Departments of Earth Science and Statistics & Data Science, University of California, Santa Barbara
2Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Methane is an important greenhouse gas and contributor to ozone pollution in our atmosphere. To better understand methane’s behavior as our climate changes, we must study its largest sink, oxidation by the hydroxyl radical (OH). The concentration of OH in the atmosphere depends on its many reactions with other molecules, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which
can be computationally expensive to model. The idealized model AquaChem simulates the full complexity of global atmospheric chemistry at much lower computational costs than the fully coupled CESM2-CAM6 model by using simplified dynamic processes. We analyzed simulations of AquaChem with perturbations to biogenic and anthropogenic VOC emissions to uncover their
effects on OH, methane lifetime, and ozone. We found that globally, increasing biogenic VOC emissions by 50% relative to present-day conditions (2000) led to a decrease in OH by ~9% and an increase in methane lifetime by ~0.6 years. A +50% anthropogenic VOC perturbation did not affect OH, but increased the global ozone burden. These results show how OH is more sensitive to biogenic VOCs, while ozone is more sensitive to anthropogenic VOCs. This supports our understanding of how OH response weakens as ozone and methane increase under a changing and warming climate.