Louisa Kramer Atmospheric Sciences

Louisa Kramer, Michigan Technological University

 

 

Research Interests


Long range transport of pollution

Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) measurements of traces gases and aerosols

Volcanic Gas Emissions

Satellite Remote Sensing and Validation

Snow Photochemistry


pdf version of current CV can be found here

 

Current Projects


Long Term Measurements of Nitrogen Oxides at the GEOSummit Station, Greenland (NSF)

This project is to make high quality measurements of nitrogen oxides (NOX=NO+NO2) at the GEOSummit station from summer 2012 - 2016. The measurements will provide important information on the concentrations of nitrogen oxides transported to the Arctic, which vary both seasonally and annually and the resulting impact on Arctic ozone levels. The project will contribute to the Arctic Observing Network (AON) and the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH). The data will be made available to researchers for studies to improve understanding of current impacts of transported pollution on greenhouse gas levels and estimates of climate change feedbacks within the Arctic.


 

Completed Projects


A study of biomass-burning and anthropogenic impacts on arctic tropospheric chemistry using measurments at Summit, Greenland as part of the POLARCAT IPY project (NASA)

The project involves continuous year-round measurements of total reactive nitrogen oxides, PAN, NOx and NMHC at the high altitude GEO-Summit station in Greenland, for a period of 2 years beginning June 2008. The primary objective of this project is the use of these measurements along with FLEXPART transport modeling and simultaneous observations of CO, ozone, and black carbon to identify sources and impacts of both anthropogenic and biomass-burning emissions, with a focus on impacts on arctic tropospheric ozone, ozone precursors and OH levels and consideration of potential feedbacks upon snow photochemistry.


Development of a Multi-Axis DOAS instrument to monitor volcanic gas emissions (MTU Research Seed Award)

Volcanic emissions are a significant source of aerosols and trace gases to the atmosphere,resulting in an impact on future climate on a local, regional and global scale. This project will address the need to provide estimates of volcanic gas emissions and information on plume height and gas fluxes for studies of climate change through the development of a Multi-Axis DOAS instrumentto perform quantitative measurements of volcanic gas emissions from multiple viewing directions in both the horizontal and vertical plane simultaneously. The measurements will provide information on the state of the volcano and may help in the prediction of future eruptions for real-time risk assessment.