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2008 Haagen-Smit Prize Winners

The Executive Editors and the Publisher of Atmospheric Environment take great pleasure in announcing the 2008 ''Haagen-Smit Prize'', designed to recognize outstanding papers published in Atmospheric Environment. The Prize is named in honor of Prof. Arie Jan Haagen-Smit, a pioneer in the field of air pollution and one of the first editors of the International Journal of Air Pollution, a predecessor to Atmospheric Environment.

The ''Haagen-Smit Prize'' is given annually to two papers previously published in Atmospheric Environment and covering different science areas. Additional information about this award and the selection committee members can be found at http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sgg/singh/aehaagen.html. The nominating letters printed below describe the two 2008 winning papers.


Nomination Letters

Brian LambLamb, B., Guenther, A., Gay, D., and Westberg, H.: A national inventory of biogenic hydrocarbon emissions, Atmos. Environ., 21, 1695-1705, 1987.

This paper is nominated for the 2008 Haagen-Smit Prize in recognition of the foundation it has provided for essentially all efforts to model biogenic hydrocarbon emissions that have followed in the U.S. and in countries around the globe. With a record of over 250 citations, it is also one of the most frequently cited in atmospheric sciences. Lamb, Guenther and colleagues were the first to combine detailed spatial distributions of vegetation cover with corresponding distributions of environmental parameters and to use these geophysical data with empirical emission algorithms to estimate hourly biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions with a high degree of spatial resolution in the U.S. The inventory described in this paper accounted for the major vegetation species, including crops, and the results were specific for isoprene, α-pinene, and other VOCs. The resulting framework was perfectly suited for use in the ongoing development and application of comprehensive gridded photochemical atmospheric chemistry models. This is clearly evident from the evolution of this work into the EPA Biogenic Emission Inventory System (BEIS) as described in Lamb et al., 1993 and Pierce et al., 1990. BEIS3, the latest version, is an integral part of local, state, and federal air quality management modeling tools in the U.S. and elsewhere. The BEIS series of BVOC emission models are an essential component in almost every air quality and atmospheric chemistry modeling analysis from the last two decades.

Key features of the initial inventory were an approach that allowed for emission modeling using on-site meteorological data for specific sites as well as for regional inventories using available surface meteorological or climatological data. The inventory was initially conducted at the county scale, but it was only a short time before more detailed vegetation distributions were compiled that supported gridded emission inventories using the same framework. Similarly, the framework employed available empirical emission algorithms which have subsequently been improved and expanded to include other compounds. Significantly, the paper included a first quantitative uncertainty analysis of the BVOC emissions which the authors used to highlight areas of uncertainty in the emission model. These areas of uncertainty were the targets for a wide range of subsequent BVOC studies that continue today in our efforts to improve BVOC emission estimates. The paper also addressed geogenic VOC emissions and included an analysis that suggested that this source was a negligible aspect of BVOC emissions.

The national BVOC emission inventory was developed in this paper as part of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP). However, the influence of the paper has extended far beyond NAPAP and includes a large number of regional ozone impact analyses throughout the U.S. and elsewhere. The newest versions of the inventory are being used to support investigations of global climate change with an emphasis on future air quality, global chemical cycles, and the role of biogenic secondary organic aerosols in regional radiation budgets and as sources of cloud condensation nuclei. Guenther and colleagues have recently developed MEGAN as the latest version of this inventory approach and, in a manner similar to the 1987 inventory, MEGAN provides a framework that accounts for a wide range of biophysical dynamics that affect BVOC emissions.

Prof. Lamb, Washington State University, and colleagues have a consistent record of outstanding scientific research with many of their publications appearing in Atmospheric Environment. I believe that the subject paper and its authors make an excellent choice for the Haagen-Smit Prize.

Nominator: Hanwant B. Singh, NASA Ames Research Center, USA

Prof. Brian Lamb, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164–2910, USA (blamb@wsu.edu)


Shiro HatakeyamaHatakeyama, S., Izumi, K., and Akimoto, H.: Yield of SO2 and formation of aerosol in the photo-oxidation of DMS under atmospheric conditions, Atmospheric Environment, 19, 135-141, 1985.

This paper deals with photo-oxidation of DMS (dimethyl sulfide) under atmospheric conditions. A large volume (6 m3) environmental chamber was utilized. The yield of SO2 was 21 ± 5% at the early stage of reaction and finally increased to 29 ± 7%. The low yield of SO2 could be one of causes of the discrepancy between the measured emission rate of DMS from the ocean surface into the air and estimated conversion rate of DMS to SO2 in marine boundary layer, because the yield of SO2 from DMS oxidation was conventionally taken as unity. It has been cited 165 times.

Not only the yields of photo-oxidation products but the processes of aerosol formation were investigated. It was shown that number concentration of aerosols was low (max. ~3.0 x 103 cm-3), but geometrical mean diameter was large (~0.4 um) in dry air, whereas number density of aerosols was high (max. ~3 x 105 cm-3), but geometrical mean diameter was small (~0.2 um) in humid air. In humid air aerosol formation started as soon as photo-irradiation started. In contrast a long induction period (~1 hour after photo-irradiation started) was found in dry air. Methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and sulfuric acid were the major components of the aerosols formed. Thus, self- and co-condensation of MSA and sulfuric acid would give slow starts, but larger growth of aerosols in the dry air system. On the contrary immediate formation of aerosols in humid air system was brought about by heteromolecular nucleation of H2O-H2SO4 and/or H2O-MSA.

Since DMS is the most abundant reduced sulfur compound in the troposphere and it plays the most important role in producing cloud condensation nuclei in the oceanic atmosphere, photo-oxidation mechanisms and aerosol formation processes are essential from a point of view of atmospheric chemistry in the remote troposphere. This paper and its preceding papers (Hatakeyama et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 9, 583-586, 1982; Hatakeyama et al., J. Phys. Chem., 87, 2387-2395, 1983) aroused much interest in atmospheric sulfur chemistry and became a forefront of the investigations in the field of oceanic aerosols which have significant meaning in Global Warming and Climate Change problems. The fields that seem to be given a significant impact are (1) kinetics and mechanisms of chemical reactions of reduced sulfur compounds, (2) aerosol formation from the oxidation of DMS and reduced sulfur compounds, and (3) feedback to global warming by oceanic aerosols formed by atmospheric oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds.

Judging from the importance of the results contained in the paper and the significance of its impact on related scientific fields, I believe that this paper is an excellent choice for the Haagen-Smit Prize.

Nominator: Yoko Yokouchi, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan

Prof. Shiro Hatakeyama, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan (hatashir@cc.tuat.ac.jp)


Our congratulations go to the authors of the two outstanding papers selected for the 2008 Prize. We would also very much like to thank all the nominators for their effort and note that unsuccessful nominations are eligible for consideration again next year. We further take this opportunity to acknowledge the conscientious effort of the selection committee, made up of members from five countries, in arriving at a clear and timely decision.

Hanwant B. Singh and Peter Brimblecombe,
Editors in Chief of Atmospheric Environment.

F. Veenstra,
Publisher, Elsevier Science.