About the Lab

In the troposphere, reactive gases and aerosol particles emitted by human activities such as energy production, mobility, agriculture, and by natural sources including volcanoes, the biosphere, oceans, and deserts. They undergo multi-phase chemical transitions, which are investigated under controlled laboratory conditions by the Surface Chemistry Group of the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry (LUC). After transformation and transport in the atmosphere, aerosol particles and gases are eventually incorporated into snow and deposited on alpine glaciers. Ice cores from such glaciers are collected and analyzed by the Analytical Chemistry Group of LUC to reconstruct air pollution levels, environmental conditions and climate variability in the past.