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Methane Removal
Grantee Project

Marker Species and Aerosol Formation from Chlorine-initiated Oxidation in the Remote Atmosphere

Assessment of potential chlorinated-VOC marker species for studying atmospheric oxidation processes

Jesse Kroll

July 2024

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June 2026

Project Summary

A major uncertainty in scientific understanding of the global methane budget is the fraction of atmospheric methane lost via oxidation by the chlorine radical (Cl). Estimates of the importance of this loss process vary by over a factor of 30, limiting scientists’ ability to understand how changes to chlorine levels might affect future methane concentration. This project aims to improve scientific understanding of the importance of chlorine-initiated oxidation, via laboratory studies of reactions of Cl radicals with volatile organic compounds. Experiments will be carried out under reaction conditions relevant to the remote atmosphere and will center on aerosol formation as well as the identification and quantification of long-lived Cl-containing products which can serve as tracers for atmospheric chlorine chemistry.

Team

Jesse Kroll is a professor at MIT’s Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Chemical Engineering, and the Director of the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory for Environmental Science and Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University in 2003, and then was a postdoc at Caltech and a Research Scientist at Aerodyne Research, Inc. In 2009 he joined the faculty of MIT, where his group carries out research on the organic chemistry of the atmosphere.

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