Prather Research Group

Professor Prather has been selected to serve a 3 year term on the Board for Atmospheric Science and Climate (BASC). A unit of the National Academies, BASC is and charged to look ahead and identify issues of importance to the atmospheric science and climate communities.

Professor Prather was one of 8 invited speakers at Climate, Energy, and the Changing Environment: A Dreyfus Foundation Symposium on Environmental Chemistry Research, which was held in New York City on Friday, October 24, 2008. The symposium, co-hosted by the New York Academy of Sciences, provided a current view of some of the most exciting topics within the broad field of environmental chemistry.

"Mexico City once topped lists of places with the worst air pollution in the world. Although efforts to curb emissions have improved the situation, tiny particles called aerosols still clog the air. Now, atmospheric scientists from UC San Diego and six other institutions have sorted through the pall that hangs over the city to precisely identify aerosols that make up the haze and chart daily patterns of changes to the mix."

"Tiny particles in air called aerosols create smog, seed clouds, and control how much of the sun's heat makes it through the atmosphere, yet these particles are the least understood aspect of climate research. Now, UC San Diego and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are working together to tackle the role of aerosols in climate change—specifically how aerosols from pollution, oceans and wildfires contribute to shifting weather.