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This document provides updates on the activities of various Special Interest Groups (SIGs) related to air quality and climate change. The SIGs are seeking input and participation from members and offer opportunities for sharing information and organizing events such as webinars. The document includes information on upcoming conferences and events of interest in the field. It also highlights the need for carbon reduction efforts and previews an engaging workshop session on climate change at an upcoming conference. Additionally, the document mentions social events, surveys, and workshops organized by other SIGs focused on topics such as biomass smoke, indoor air quality, measurement, modelling, and odour. [Extracted from the article]

Abstract The Urban Exposure Project is an EU funded project to produce a state of the art, user-friendly management decision software tool for administrators to help them quantify and deal [...]

MAPM (Mapping Air Pollution eMissions) is a project whose goal is to develop a method to infer particulate matter (PM) emissions maps from in situ PM concentration measurements. In support of MAPM, a winter field campaign was conducted in New Zealand in 2019 (June to September) to obtain the measurements required to test and validate the MAPM methodology. Two different types of instruments measuring PM were deployed: ES-642 remote dust monitors (17 instruments) and Outdoor Dust Information Nodes (ODINs; 50 instruments). The measurement campaign was bracketed by two intercomparisons where all instruments were co-located, with a permanently installed Tapered Element Oscillating Membrane (TEOM) instrument, to determine any instrument biases. Changes in biases between the pre-and post-campaign intercomparisons were used to determine instrument drift over the campaign period. Once deployed, each ES-642 was co-located with an ODIN. In addition to the PM measurements, meteorological variables (temperature, pressure, wind speed and wind direction) were measured at three automatic weather station (AWS) sites established as part of the campaign, with additional data being sourced from 27 further AWSs operated by other agencies. Vertical profile measurements were made in two intensive radiosonde subcampaigns and were supplemented with measurements made with a mini micropulse lidar and ceilometer. Here we present the data collected during the campaign and discuss the correction of the measurements made by various PM instruments. We find that for while for the ODINs a correction based on environmental conditions is beneficial, this results in over-fitting and increased uncertainties when applied to the measurements obtained using the more sophisticated ES-642s. We also compare PM2.5 and PM10 measured by ODINs which, in some cases, allows us to identify PM from natural and anthropogenic sources. The PM data collected during the campaign are publicly available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4023402 (Dale et al., 2020b), the data from other instruments are available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4021685 (Dale et al., 2020a). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particulates emitted from the ocean's surface such as sea salt and byproducts of marine biogenic activity form atmospheric aerosols. Aerosols are important for climate change because they have offset some of the historical warming caused by greenhouse gases. Aerosols are also significant for human health: they are small enough to be inhaled and contribute to respiratory problems and other illnesses. Marine aerosol is the primary source of natural aerosol present in urban areas of Aotearoa New Zealand and, as part of the natural aerosol background, cannot be managed. Here, we review the production and presence of marine aerosols in New Zealand's air, and the implications for human health and climate change. Because marine aerosol is sensitive to physical changes in climate such as sea surface temperature and winds, production is likely to be affected by climate change. Overall, marine aerosol is unlikely to become a smaller contributor to urban atmospheric aerosol loading in New Zealand towns and cities under future climate change scenarios. Continued assessment of anthropogenic aerosols will be necessary to ensure that air quality targets are met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]