Rising University of Delaware senior Kathryn Wheeler first became passionate about air quality when, after high school, she spent 10 months living in Beijing, China.

“Ozone levels are high in Beijing, and people living there diligently check the air quality forecast every day in addition to the weather forecast. It was eye opening to learn that there are places in the world like China, even in the U.S., that have air quality problems,” said Wheeler.

This summer, Wheeler, an environmental science major and computer science minor, had the opportunity to focus full-time on improving air quality models through an internship at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The opportunity came about through her selection for NOAA’s Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholar program.

According to Wheeler, current air quality models mostly ignore chemical reactions inside forest canopies. She explained that forests emit compounds, such as isoprene, that through chemical reactions can increase ozone levels near the Earth's surface that can be detrimental to human health.

“Air quality models aimed at predicting ozone levels usually set a blanket rate for the emissions of these compounds, and do not account for chemical transformations within the forest canopy that ultimately change their canopy emission rates,” she said.

Working under the guidance of Rick Saylor, a physical scientist with NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory, Wheeler is writing and running atmospheric model simulations to create a list of correction factors that will improve the accuracy of existing air quality models.

“The point is to try to increase the accuracy of how air quality forecast models predict ozone concentrations. Ozone near the Earth’s surface is hazardous to human health and can cause respiratory issues, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly, children and people with respiratory problems such as asthma,” she explained.

When ozone levels are higher, it is often recommended that folks decrease time spent outside and the intensity of vigorous outdoor activities.

Wheeler is using data collected in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's forest to generate reference tables based on certain levels of compounds in the forest canopy. Other scientists then can use these reference tables to correct their predictions for those compounds coming out of the forest canopy.

“Increasing the accuracy of these models will allow scientists to more accurately predict ozone levels and to better inform the public when precautions are needed,” said Wheeler.

She will present her research findings next week at NOAA's Science and Education Symposium in Silver Spring, Maryland.

At UD, Wheeler conducts research under the advisement of Delphis Levia, professor of ecohydrology and chair of the Department of Geography, which is housed in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. Currently, she is most interested in how climate change is affecting the seasonality of trees and other vegetation types.

This fall, she plans to apply for graduate school to study for her doctoral degree in biology. Ultimately, she hopes to become a tenured professor at a research university.

“Interning in a governmental lab this summer has given me the opportunity to see a different side of research, while opening my eyes to new aspects of forestry that I didn’t previously know about,” said Wheeler.