Asst. Research Professor
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
University of Utah
Bio:
Erik Crosman is a Assistant Research Professor at the University of Utah in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. His research is mainly in mesoscale, boundary-layer, and mountain meteorology. Recent projects include a study with the Utah Division of Air Quality to improve the meteorological simulations of winter stable layers for input into air quality models. Erik obtained his PhD from the University of Utah in 2011. Erik’s research over the past 12 years has been intrinsically linked several aspects of the Great Salt Lake including remote sensing of the lake temperature trends from NASA satellites, and how lake breezes impact weather and pollutant transport in the vicinity of the Lake. Erik has been involved in a number of field studies that have obtained weather data around the Great Salt Lake in 2009, 2011-2011, and most recently, in 2015 with the summer ozone study.
Title: The Impact of the Great Salt Lake on Air Quality along the Wasatch Front
1:30pm - Friday, May 13th
Abstract: The Great Salt Lake plays an important role in modulating pollutant concentrations along Utah's heavily urbanized Wasatch Front. Great Salt Lake breezes can transport either clean or polluted air into the Wasatch Front depending on the meteorological conditions. In the summer of 2015, Researchers from the University of Utah, Utah State University, and Weber State University and the Utah Division of Air Quality examined the distribution of boundary-layer ozone in the vicinity of Utah's Great Salt Lake. The summertime study was the first to provide a detailed examination of the complex temporal and spatial variations in boundary-layer ozone in the region and the impacts of thermally-driven Great Salt Lake breezes on summertime pollution transport into the Salt Lake Valley. The data collected as part of this study is relevant to understanding the potential impact of the more stringent ozone standards proposed by the EPA throughout the western United States. An overview of pollutant transport into the Salt Lake Valley by Great Salt Lake breezes will be presented, with a focus on the findings from the 2015 summertime ozone study.