Paul O. Wennberg
California Institute of Technology
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Primary Section: 16, Geophysics Secondary Section: 63, Environmental Sciences and Ecology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2017)
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Biosketch
Paul Wennberg has developed instrumentation and methods for measurement of trace gases in the atmosphere towards understanding photochemistry and the carbon cycle. He is the director of The Linde Center for Global Environmental Science at Caltech. He grew up in Waterbury, Vermont and attended Oberlin College where he received a bachelors degree in chemistry. For his PhD, he studied the free radical chemistry of Earth's stratosphere and upper troposphere. He joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology in 1998 where he has worked on numerous NASA and NSF sponsored research activities.
Research Interests
Paul Wennberg's laboratory studies the photochemistry of volatile organic compounds emitted by both humans and the biosphere. This chemistry is important for determining the levels of oxidants (e.g. ozone) and aerosol. His lab has developed new instruments for measurement of the oxidation products of these organic compounds. These instruments have participated in numerous field campaigns across the world. Wennberg's laboratory has also been at the center of the development of space-and ground-based measurement of greenhouse gases by remote sensing. He has helped to create the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) that is used as the ground-based standard for measurement of greenhouse gas column abundance.
