Announcements of Opportunity
Special Note for SURF@JPL 2024
JPL is operating under a continuing resolution (meaning they are waiting for approval from Congress of NASA's 2024 budget). Additionally, due to other factors, JPL is concerned about a potential budget decrease. This will impact the number of summer internships available. We are working closely with JPL leadership to minimize the impact, but you can expect that AOs will likely not get posted until later this term. To accommodate this later timeline we will offer a second SURF@JPL application deadline. (This extension is for SURF@JPL only.)
- Students who find a JPL mentor early are encouraged to apply by the regular February 22 deadline. For applicants who meet this deadline, awards will be announced on April 1.
- Students who find a JPL mentor later will need to apply by April 19. Awards for this round of applications will be announced on May 6.
Students are also encouraged to apply to the JPL SIP program, which has an application deadline of March 29. For more information about SIP, visit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/intern/apply/summer-internship-program
SURF@JPL: Announcements of Opportunity
Announcements of Opportunity are posted by JPL technical staff for the SURF@JPL program. Each AO indicates whether or not it is open to non-Caltech students. If an AO is NOT open to non-Caltech students, please DO NOT contact the mentor.
Announcements of Opportunity are posted as they are received. Please check back regularly for new AO submissions!
**Students applying for JPL projects should complete a SURF@JPL application instead of a "regular" SURF application.
**Students pursuing opportunities at JPL must be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents.
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Project: |
Investigating the Potential Role of Ammonia in PM2.5 Pollution Near Salton Sea in Southern California
(JPL AO No. 15568)
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Disciplines: | Earth Science, Chemistry | ||||||||
Mentor: |
Olga Kalashnikova,
(JPL),
Olga.Kalashnikova@jpl.nasa.gov, |
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Background: | Ammonia plays a multifaceted and significant role in atmospheric chemistry and air quality. It primarily originates from agricultural and industrial activities, as well as natural sources, and is a key precursor to fine particulate matter (PM2.5). This impacts both atmospheric visibility and human health. The interaction of ammonia with acidic pollutants leads to the formation of ammonium salts, contributing to secondary PM. However, accurately characterizing ammonia is challenging due to its high reactivity and solubility, which complicates its measurement and analysis. This limitation hinders our understanding of its atmospheric transport and transformation. In California, a state with extensive agricultural and industrial activities, ammonia emissions are notably high. Yet, conventional emission inventories often underestimate these emissions, leaving a gap in our understanding of ammonia's true impact on air quality. The areas around the Salton Sea in Southern California are significant ammonia emission hotspots due to a combination of agricultural, industrial, dairy, cattle feedlot, and geothermal power plant activities. To characterize the trends, levels, and sources of ammonia and its impact on PM levels in the Salton Sea region, we conducted two comprehensive field campaigns in March and September 2023. These campaigns integrated airborne remote sensing with ground-based stationary and mobile monitoring, coupled with chemical transport modeling. | ||||||||
Description: | We obtained an extensive air quality monitoring dataset collected over a year by the South Coast Air Quality Management District at a site northwest of the Salton Sea. This dataset contains concentrations of gases (e.g., ammonia, ozone, nitrogen oxides, etc.) and chemically speciated particulate matter (e.g., carbons, ions, metals, etc.), as well as meteorological data. The goal of this project is to investigate the relationship between ammonia and the formation of PM2.5. The proposed student tasks include: (1) becoming familiar with the different datasets already collected; (2) exploring potential relationships among measured air pollutants; (3) performing multivariate analysis to determine the relationship levels of ammonia and changes in PM2.5 total mass concentrations and chemical composition; (4) utilizing aerosol chemistry principles to estimate the formation of ammonium salts from observed ammonia levels, and assessing their contribution to the overall PM2.5 mass and composition. | ||||||||
References: |
Kuai, L., O. V. Kalashnikova, F. M. Hopkins, G. C. Hulley, H. Lee, M. J. Garay, R. M. Duren, J. R.Worden, and S. J. Hook (2019), Quantification of Ammonia Emissions With High Spatial Resolution Thermal Infrared Observations From the Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES) Airborne Instrument, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observbations and Remote Sensing , 12 (12), 4798–4812, doi:10.1109/JSTARS.2019.2918093. Tratt, D. M., S. J. Young, D. K. Lynch, K. N. Buckland, P. D. Johnson, J. L. Hall, K. R. Westberg, M. L. Polak, B. P. Kasper, and J. Qian (2011), Remotely sensed ammonia emission from fumarolic vents associated with a hydrothermally active fault in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field, California, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D21308, doi:10.1029/2011JD016282. |
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Student Requirements: | 1) Basic understanding of atmospheric chemistry and environmental science; 2) Proficiency in statistical analysis and multivariate analysis techniques; 3) familiarity with programming languages such as Python or R for data analysis and visualization. | ||||||||
Location / Safety: | Project building and/or room locations: . Student will need special safety training: . | ||||||||
Programs: |
This AO can be done under the following programs:
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