The Atmospheric Organic Carbon Cycle:
From Air Quality to Climate

Chris Lawrence Ph.D. Candidate, University at Albany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center
Organic carbon is an essential building block for life, forming a vast array of complex molecular structures that exist in virtually all environments including cities,
forests, lakes, streams, oceans, and the atmosphere. It is currently thought that 10,000+ different organic compounds are present in the atmosphere,
existing as gases, particles, and dissolved in cloud and rain droplets. Organic compounds impact our world in several ways, including contributing to air
pollution, interacting with our climate, and altering the functionality of ecosystems. Despite these large impacts, organic carbon (including methane) makes
up less than 0.0002% of the Earth’s atmosphere and its abundance is 200 times less than carbon dioxide.
This lecture will discuss this small but critical fraction of the carbon cycle. First, we will discuss key concepts in organic carbon’s role in atmospheric chemistry.
Next, we will discuss its major emission sources and how it’s removed from the atmosphere. Finally, we will discuss changes and trends in organic carbon
(including measurements from cloud water collection at Whiteface Mountain), and what implications this
could have in a changing climate.