Research Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Bren Chair , Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, United States.
Research Interests : Atmospheric Chemistry & Chemical Kinetics
His research group is currently studying the composition of the earth's atmosphere in (a)remote locations throughout the Pacific region from Alaska to New Zealand:(b)highly polluted cities throughout the world; and (c) areas with special conditions, such as burning forests and/or agricultural wastes, or the marine boundary layer in oceanic locations with high biological emissions. Whole air samples are collected on land, ships, and aircraft and are returned to our laboratory for analysis.
Gas chromatography utilizing flame ionization detection, electron capture detection, and mass spectrometry is our main analytical tool. A three gaschromatograph analytical system is used to quantify about 150 halocarbons, nonmethane hydrocarbons, and alkyl nitrates ranging in mole fraction from about 2 parts per billion to 20 parts per quadrillion.
In an attempt to determine "background" concentrations of selected trace gases, since 1978 they have been collecting air samples at surface locatins every three months in Pacific regions from northern Alaska to southern New Zealand. Results from this "background" study recently led to our discovery that methyl bromide, a gas that significantly affects stratospheric ozone concentrations, has a tropospheric seasonal cycle. This finding provides an important constraint on hemispheric and seasonal methyl bromide sources and removal processes.
Research group members collected samples in more 25 different large cities throughout the world in an attempt to identify sources of urban pollution. Their work in Mexico City and Santiago, Chile identified leakage of liquefied petroleum gas as a major smog precursor comparable to automobiles and industrial sources. They anticipate their European and Asian urban sampling will continue including their projects in France, Hong Kong, and Pakistan.
Since 1988 his research group has been involved in NASA and NSF sponsored airborne projects. The general motivation for these experiments is regional or global change. For example, the 1991 and 1994 NASA Pacific Exploratory Missions were designed in part to determine baseline concentrations of trance gases and aerosols in air advected from the Asian continent. Data obtained during the 1992 NASA Transport and Atmospheric Chemistry near the Equator-Atlantic project confirmed that biomass burning emissions from Africa and South America were the cause of enhanced tropospheric ozone observed by satelite. Results from the 1992 biomass burning study were useful for understanding enhanced concentrations of biomass burning tracers observed in the mid-troposphere of the South Central Pacific during NASA's Pacific Exploratory Mission-Tropics A, a two aircraft mission flown during August-October, 1996.
Awards and Honors : The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1995 "for his work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone"
Selected Publications : "Nonmethane hydrocarbon measurements in the Northern Atlantic Flight Corridor during the Subsonic Assessment Oxone and Nitrogen Oxide Experiment", I. J. Simpson, B. C. Sive, D. R. Blake, N. J. Blake, T.-Y. Chen, J. P. Lopez, B. E. Anderson, G. W. Sachse, S. A. Vay, H. E. Fuelberg, Y. Kondo, A. M. Thompson, and F. S. Rowland, Journal of Geophysical Research, 2000, 105, 3785-3793.
"Estimation of Global Vehicular Methyl Bromide Emissions: Extrapolation from a Case Study in Santiago, Chile", Geophysical Research Letters, Tai-Yih Chen, Donald R. Blake, Jimena P. Lopez and F. Sherwood Rowland, 1999, 26 , 283-286.
"Global Atmospheric Distributions and Source Strengths of Light Hydrocarbons and Tetrachloroethylene", J. Geophysical Research, Mohan L. Gupta, Ralph J. Cicerone, Donald R. Blake, F. Sherwood Rowland and Ivar S. A. Isaksen. 1998, 103, 28,219-28,235.
"The Atmospheric Residence Time of Methyl Bromide Estimated from the Junge Spatial Variability Relationship", Science, Jonah J. Colman, Donald R. Blake and F. Sherwood Rowland, 1998, 281, 392-396.
"Biomass Burning Emissions and Vertical Distribution of Atmospheric Methyl Halides and other Reduced Carbon Gases in the South Atlantic Region", J. Geophys. Res. N. J. Blake, D. R. Blake, B. C. Sive, T.-Y. Chen, F. S. Rowland, J. E. Collins, G.W. Sachse and B. E. Anderson, 1996, 101, 24,151-24,164.
"Three-dimensional Distribution of Nonmethane Hydrocarbons and Halocarbons over the Northwestern Pacific During the 1991 Pacific Exploratory Mission (PEM-West A)", Journal of Geophysical Research, Donald R. Blake, Tai-Yih Chen, Tyrrel W. Smith Jr., Charles J.-L. Wang, Oliver W., Wingenter, Nicola J. Blake, F. S. Rowland, and Edward W. Mayer, 1996, 101, 1763-1778.
"Stratospheric Ozone Depletion by Chlorofluorocarbons (Nobel Lecture)", Angewandte Chemie, F. Sherwood Rowland, 1996, 35, 1786-1798.
"Urban Leakage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas and Its Impact on Air Quality in Mexico City," D. R. Blake and F. S. Rowland, Science 269, 953 (1995).
"Seasonal Variations in the Atmospheric Distribution in Remote Surface Locations of a Reactive Chlorine Compound, Tetrachloroethylene, C. Y.-L. Wang, D. R. Blake and F. S. Rowland, Geophysical Research Letters 22, 1097 (1995).
"Ideal Gas Thermodynamic Properties of HOBr," M. P. McGrath and F. S. Rowland, Journal of Physical Chemistry, 98, 4773 (1994).
ROWLAND, F. SHERWOOD 