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Start Over Community Civil and Environmental Engineering Year Published 2022

1. Data for "Spatial heterogeneity of ammonia fluxes in a deciduous forest and adjacent grassland"

Author(s):
Guo, Xuehui; Pan, Da; Daly, Ryan; Chen, Xi; Walker, John; Tao, Lei; McSpiritt, James; Zondlo, Mark
Abstract:
Gas-phase ammonia (NH3), emitted primarily from agriculture, contributes significantly to reactive nitrogen (Nr) deposition. Excess deposition of Nr to the environment causes acidification, eutrophication, and loss of biodiversity. The exchange of NH3 between land and atmosphere is bidirectional and can be highly heterogenous when underlying vegetation and soil characteristics differ. Direct measurements that assess the spatial heterogeneity of NH3 fluxes are lacking. To this end, we developed and deployed two fast-response, quantum cascade laser-based open-path NH3 sensors to quantify NH3 fluxes at a deciduous forest and an adjacent grassland separated by 700 m in North Carolina, United States from August to November, 2017. The sensors achieved 10 Hz precisions of 0.17 ppbv and 0.23 ppbv in the field, respectively. Eddy covariance calculations showed net deposition of NH3 (-7.3 ng NH3-N m−2 s−1) to the forest canopy and emission (3.2 ng NH3-N m−2 s−1) from the grassland. NH3 fluxes at both locations displayed diurnal patterns with absolute magnitudes largest midday and with smaller peaks in the afternoons. Concurrent biogeochemistry data showed over an order of magnitude higher NH3 emission potentials from green vegetation at the grassland compared to the forest, suggesting a possible explanation for the observed flux differences. Back trajectories originating from the site identified the upwind urban area as the main source region of NH3. Our work highlights the fact that adjacent natural ecosystems sharing the same airshed but different vegetation and biogeochemical conditions may differ remarkably in NH3 exchange. Such heterogeneities should be considered when upscaling point measurements, downscaling modeled fluxes, and evaluating Nr deposition for different natural land use types in the same landscape. Additional in-situ flux measurements accompanied by comprehensive biogeochemical and micrometeorological records over longer periods are needed to fully characterize the temporal variabilities and trends of NH3 fluxes and identify the underlying driving factors.
Type:
Dataset
Issue Date:
September 2022

2. Supplement to PhD Dissertation: "Subsurface Computational Modeling and Policy Analysis of Large-Scale Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (2022)"

Author(s):
Tao, Yiheng
Abstract:
This dataset contains supplementary materials for Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 of Yiheng Tao's PhD dissertation (2022). The dissertation’s abstract is provided here: Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) mitigates climate change by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from large point sources, or CO2 from the ambient air, and subsequently reusing the captured CO2 or injecting it into deep geological formations for long-term and secure storage. Almost all current decarbonization pathways include large-scale CCUS, on the order of a billion tonnes (Gt) of CO2 captured and stored each year globally starting in 2030, yet the actual deployment has lagged far behind (around 0.04 Gt CO2 was captured in 2021). In this dissertation, I contribute to several aspects of largescale deployment of CCUS by (1) developing and applying efficient numerical models to simulate geological CO2 storage and (2) identifying key policies to address the bottlenecks of overall CCUS deployment. This dissertation concerns the United States, China, and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) region through research projects that are consistent with each location’s current development stage of CCUS. Chapters 2 and 3 contain computational modeling studies. In Chapter 2, I develop a new series of vertical-equilibrium (VE) models in the dual-continuum modeling framework to simulate CO2 injection and migration in fractured geological formations. Those models are shown to be effective and efficient when properties of the formation allow for the VE assumption. In Chapter 3, I apply a VE model to simulate basin-scale CO2 injection in the Junggar Basin of Northwestern China. The results show that current regional emissions of more than 100 million tonnes of CO2 per year can be stored effectively, thereby confirming the great potential of the Junggar Basin for early CCUS deployment. Chapters 4 and 5 contain policy analyses. In Chapter 4, I propose a dynamic system consisting of new CO2 pipelines and novel Allam-cycle power plants in the Central United States, and examine how government policies, including an extended Section 45Q tax credit, may improve the economic feasibility of this system. Lastly, in Chapter 5, I investigate and quantify CO2 emissions implications of power plant projects associated with the BRI. I also propose a “greenness ratio” to measure the level of environmental sustainability of BRI in the power sector.
Type:
Dataset
Issue Date:
18 May 2022

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