A key component of the Fair Air project is the Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) 2022 field project. This study brings forty scientists from across the lower 48 and Europe to come to Fairbanks to work with UAF scientists and study air pollution under cold and dark conditions. The study has three main components:
We have rented a house in which we will study indoor and outdoor air quality in the neighborhood. Four mass spectrometers in the garage are alternately sampling indoor and outdoor air.
We have also set up three trailers at the UAF CTC site in downtown Fairbanks. These trailers house instruments that will improve our understanding of chemical processing of pollution under cold and dark conditions.
We are also vertically profiling pollution above Fairbanks with remote sensing, mobile monitoring that drives up and down hills, and balloons.
More details about ALPACA can be found at https://alpaca.community.uaf.edu.