Institute at Brown for Environment and Society

Emmie is working with Professor Meredith Hastings and Dr. Wendell Walters to better constrain the sources and fate of atmospheric ammonia, a key component of the reactive nitrogen cycle. Ammonia reacts with other anthropogenic emissions to form fine particulate matter, having adverse effects on air quality. Ammonia deposition also contributes to increased nitrogen availability, which can disturb sensitive ecosystems. Her research project investigates how ammonia in the atmosphere is removed by precipitation and seeks to test if the relative amounts of different isotopes of nitrogen measured in rainwater samples are a useful tracer of ammonia emission sources.