Air Pollution in the Arctic: Climate, Environment and Societies (PACES)

Fostering collaborative, interdisciplinary research on Arctic air pollution and its interactions with the Earth system and human societies

PACES is an IGAC-sponsored initiative, which aims to review existing knowledge and foster new research on the sources and fate of Arctic air pollution, and its impacts on climate, health, and ecosystems (Arnold et al., 2016). Areas of focus include feedbacks between pollution and natural sources, climate responses, and societal perspectives. PACES coordinates international research efforts on these topics in collaboration with existing and planned initiatives such as HTAPAMAPPEEXIASOA, and CATCH (ADD website link), and motivates trans-disciplinary research related to Arctic air pollutants. PACES is co-sponsored by the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC).

PACES is managed by two co-chairs and a scientific steering committee (SSC). There are currently two PACES working groups.

PACES WG1 aims to promote research aimed at reducing uncertainties in model processes governing the  sources, transformation, deposition, and impacts of Arctic air pollution, and short-lived climate forcers, in particular. It focuses on improved understanding, and model treatments, of long-range transport of pollutants from mid-latitudes, high latitude fires, and Arctic-global linkages. Improved model performance can be achieved via targeted measurement campaigns (aircraft, ground-based, ship), and satellite data analysis, to evaluate processes. The collection of regular vertical profiles of atmospheric composition in the Arctic is identified as a priority research need.

PACES WG2 focuses on interactions between Arctic air pollution and societies. Approaches under active development are observational studies guided by community concerns, investigation of local air quality in Arctic communities, and feedbacks between economic development, air pollution and environmental change in the Arctic (Schmale et al. 2018). A major initiative is the Alaskan Layered Pollution And Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) project (Simpson et al., 2018). As a component of ALPACA, an international field campaign took place in Fairbanks, Alaska, in winter 2022 with the aim to improve understanding of sources and chemical processing of air pollutants in Arctic wintertime conditions (https://alpaca.community.uaf.edu/).

The Quantifying the Indirect Effect: from Sources to Climate Effects of Natural and Transported aerosol in the Arctic (QuIESCENT Arctic) initiative is also developed jointly between PACES and CATCH (https://sites.google.com/view/quiescent-arctic/home

Please visit pacesproject.org for more information.

 


Past Events

IGAC ECR Conference

Virtually everywhere
More information
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PACES 5th Open Science Meeting (joint AMAP)

Helsinki, Finland

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PACES Side Meeting

Manchester, UK

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ALPACA Data Workshop

Baltimore, USA

quIESCENT 2nd Workshop

Tromso, Norway

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PACES IGAC2021 Conference Session



2021 16th IGAC Science Conference
IGAC Sponsored
Held Virtually Globally
Main Conference Schedule, Early Career Researcher Program , Poster Upload Link, Main Conference Website
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PACES 4th Open Science Meeting (online)

Virtually everywhere

PACES Open Science Meeting



High-latitude Fires, Arctic Climate, Environment, and health (HiFACE) Workshop (Postponed to November 2021)
IGAC Endorsed Event
Oslo, Norway

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WG2 Twin Cities Workshop

Helsinki, Finland

3rd PACES Open Science Meeting
IGAC Sponsored
Oslo, Norway
PACES Website, Registration Page
Workshop Announcement174.04 KB
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Quantifying the Indirect Effect: from Sources to Climate Effects of Natural and Transported aerosol in the Arctic (QuIESCENT Arctic) Workshop
IGAC Endorsed Event
Cambridge, UK

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ALaskan Pollution And Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) Planning Workshop
IGAC Sponsored
Fairbanks, AK, USA
ALPACA website, IGACnews Workshop Summary
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Second PACES Workshop
IGAC Sponsored
Victoria, B.C., Canada
Event Website, IGACnews Workshop Summary
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PACES Arctic Pollution and Societies Workshop to be held at Arctic Summit Science Week (ASSW)
IGAC Endorsed Event
Prague, Czech Republic
Event Website, IGACnews Workshop Summary
IASC/IGAC PACES Workshop on Arctic Air Pollution
IGAC Sponsored
Fairbanks, Alaska (during ASSW)
IGACnews Workshop Summary, IASC Workshop Summary
PACES Arctic Air Pollution Workshop
IGAC Sponsored
Helsinki, Finland
IGACnews Workshop Summary
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Arctic Air Pollution Workshop: Advancing Understanding in the Next Decade
IGAC Sponsored
Boulder, CO, USA
IGACnews Workshop Summary
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Publications

Alaskan Layered Pollution And Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) White Paper (2018). Simpson, W., K.S. Law, J. Schmale, K.A. Pratt, S.R. Arnold, and J. Mao.

Local Arctic air pollution: A neglected but serious problem (2018)Schmale, J., S.R. Arnold, K.S. Law, T. Throp, S. Anenberg, W.R. Simpson, J. Mao, and K.A. Pratt. Earth's Future, 6, doi:10.1029/2018EF000952.

White Paper for IMPAACT: Investigation of Multiscale Processes Affecting Atmospheric Chemical Transport (2018).  Brock, C.,  B. Anderson, E. Apel, M. Barth, T. Bates, O. Cooper, J. Crawford, J. de Gouw, J. Dibb, A. Fiore, E. Fischer, F. Flocke, C. Heald, D. Jacob, J. Jimenez, R. Moore, L. Jaeglé, D. Jaffe, J.-F. Lamarque, J. Mao, B. Pierce, P. Quinn, T. Ryerson, J. Schwarz, S. Tilmes, D. Toohey, and L. Ziemba

Arctic air pollution: Challenges and opportunities for the next decade. (2016). Arnold S, Law K, Brock C, Thomas J, Starkweather S, et al.Elementa Science for the Anthropocene, doi: 10.12952/journal.elementa.000104.