Virtual Conference Schedule

Virtual Conference Schedule

The 2020 ACM Conference will be completely virtual. From the session presentations to the happy hours, we will continue to host an interactive and informative experience. Due to the conference being fully virtual, we have decided to expand it out over two weeks in pieces to allow both for maximum concentration during each session and for you to attend to your other work and family obligations. 

All sessions, except Fridays, will be three hours long starting at 8:00 AM PST / 11:00 AM EST / 4:00 PM GMT. Fridays will last one hour thirty minutes to two hours. Days with Happy Hours or Coffee Hours will be extended by one extra hour. 

Review the list of ACM Conference Abstracts

ACM Schedule

 

Thursday, November 5th

8:00 a.m. PT - 11:00 a.m. PT

Current Atmospheric Chemical Mechanisms Training

Training Topics: 

Description:

This training will start with an overview of the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) by Dr. Andrew Rickard, University of York. He will discuss its origins, philosophy, applications and future development strategy.  Then Dr. Bill Carter, UC Riverside, will describe the history, objectives, and approach used in the development of the SAPRC mechanisms and the SAPRC mechanism generation system (MechGen) and their current status and plans. The approach used is an example of that advocated in the "New Directions" article of Kaduwela et al (2016). Next, Dr. William Stockwell, University of Texas at El Paso, will discuss RADM/RACM/GACM Mechanisms. The Regional Acid Deposition Mechanism (versions 1 and 2) and the Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Mechanism (versions 1 and 2) constitute a mechanism series designed for 3-D photochemical grid models. The design philosophy of this series is to balance completeness, compactness and the necessary speculations that are needed to make air quality models that are creditable for policymakers. Dr. Wendy Goliff, Cal Poly, Pomona, will continue the discussion on RACM2 because chemical mechanisms are an important bridge between laboratory data and modeling.  Finally, Dr. Greg Yarwood, Ramboll, will review the development of Carbon Bond (CB) mechanisms leading to the current version, namely revision 5 of CB6 (CB6r5). He will discuss a formal uncertainty analysis of CB6r4 that considers the impact of uncertainty in each rate constant and product stoichiometric coefficient of this mechanism.

NOTE: Separate no-cost registration requiredLearn more about the training and register here.


Friday, November 6th

8:00 a.m. PT - 10:00 a.m. PT

The Future of Atmospheric Chemical Mechanism Development: A Panel Discussion of Possible Forward Paths

Panelists:

Description:

Kaduwela et al. (2015) and Stockwell et al. (2020) present two differing views on the further development of gas-phase atmospheric chemical mechanisms. Kaduwela et al. call for the reliance on master chemical mechanisms, that are as complete as possible, to develop reduced chemical schemes for air quality modeling for public policy development.  It is argued that this approach provides direct links between fundamental chemistry and air quality modeling applications. This view places a strong emphasis on examining all non-negligible chemical reaction paths. 

Stockwell et al. recognize that master chemical mechanisms are worthy research endeavors. But they are concerned that reliance on the creation of a very large, explicit mechanism as the first step may involve an extensive extrapolation of SAR data that may go too far beyond the available experimental database. They are concerned that the master mechanism approach may introduce greater uncertainty into public policy modeling. Methods based on data mining, machine learning, data assimilation or similar mathematical approaches may provide the policy community with more reliable modeling tools.

Both Kaduwela et al. and Stockwell et al. agree that expanding the available chemical database, including laboratory, chamber and field data, are extremely important to the development of future atmospheric chemistry mechanisms.

This panel discussion will follow on the background provided in the descriptions of various current mechanism development efforts on the previous day, but will focus specifically on the differing views on the future of mechanism development. We intend this to be a discussion and not a debate. The panel will consist of several current mechanism developers and will include short opening statements from each perspective. Following that, there will be a discussion between the panelists and the audience. We will clearly delineate the specific areas of agreement, disagreement and possible forward paths for the mechanism development community.

NOTE: Separate no-cost registration required. Learn more about the panel and register here.


Monday, November 9th

8:00 a.m. PT - 11:15 a.m. PT

Fundamental Oxidation Chemistry (Part 1)

Principal Presentations

Lightning Talks


Tuesday, November 10th

8:00 a.m. PT - 11:15 a.m. PT

Fundamental Oxidation Chemistry (Part 2)

Principal Presentations

Lightning Talks


Wednesday, November 11th

No Sessions


Thursday, November 12th

8:00 a.m. PT - 11:15 a.m. PT

Fundamental Oxidation Chemistry (Part 3)

Principal Presentations


COVID and Other Extreme Events

Principal Presentations

Lightning Talks

None


Friday, November 13th

8:00 a.m. PT - 11:15 a.m. PT

Wildfire Chemistry

Principal Presentations


Monday, November 16th

8:00 a.m. PT - 11:15 a.m. PT

Indoor Chemistry and Emerging Anthropogenic Pollutants

Principal Presentations

Lightning Talks


Tuesday, November 17th

8:00 a.m. PT - 11:15 a.m. PT

New Tools for 21st Century Air Quality Problems

Principal Presentations

Lightning Talks


Wednesday, November 18th

8:00 a.m. PT - 11:15 a.m. PT

Current and New Atmospheric Chemical Mechanisms

Principal Presentations

Lightning Talks


Thursday, November 19th

8:00 a.m. PT - 10:45 a.m. PT

Atmospheric Chemistry in Health and Regulatory Applications

Principal Presentations

Lightning Talks

None


Friday, November 20th

8:00 a.m. PT - 9:30 a.m. PT

Keynote: How Reactive Organic Carbon Fuels Atmospheric Chemistry

Organic molecules in the atmosphere play a major role in the production of secondary pollutants such as ozone and particles. These in turn, are central to some of the major environmental issues of our times (climate change, air pollution).Despite the vital role that these species play in our global environment, our understanding has been hampered by the complexity of this class of species and a fractured approach to studying their chemical evolution. In this talk I’ll discuss the overall role of ROC in tropospheric chemistry, as well as recent progress and remaining challenges in understanding this role. I will also use field measurements from the CalNex, SOAS, and ATom field campaigns to contrast the abundance and role of ROC in terms of OH reactivity, ozone and SOA production.

Colette Heald, Professor, MIT