Collaborative Research Team Receives NOAA's 2025 Outstanding Scientific Paper Award
Congratulations to Dr. Patrick Veres, scientist at the NSF NCAR Research Aviation Facility, and the collaborative research team for receiving NOAA's 2025 Outstanding Scientific Paper of the Year award! The multi-institutional team was recognized for their exceptional 2023 paper "Midlatitude Ozone Depletion and Air Quality Impacts from Industrial Halogen Emissions in the Great Salt Lake Basin". This collaborative effort brought together scientists from NOAA's Chemical Sciences Laboratory, CIRES, and multiple universities to conduct groundbreaking research on halogen emissions and their effects on ozone and air quality.
This research had significant real-world impact beyond scientific recognition. The 2023 study revealed that halogen emissions from a single magnesium refinery were responsible for up to 25% of Utah's wintertime fine particulate pollution, identifying previously unreported bromine emissions affecting 2.4 million Wasatch Front residents. The findings directly informed Utah state policy, leading to passage of HB420 in spring 2025, which granted the Utah Division of Air Quality new regulatory authority over halogen emissions - the first time Utah officials specifically addressed these industrial emissions in air quality regulations.
Relevant Resources:
- Midlatitude Ozone Depletion and Air Quality Impacts from Industrial Halogen Emissions in the Great Salt Lake Basin
- Womack, C.C., W.S. Chace, S. Wang, M. Baasandorj, D.L. Fibiger, A. Franchin, L. Goldberger, C. Harkins, D.S. Jo, B.H. Lee, J.C. Lin, B.C. McDonald, E.E. McDuffie, A.M. Middlebrook, A. Moravek, J.G. Murphy, J.A. Neuman, J.A. Thorton, P.R. Veres, and S.S. Brown, Midlatitude ozone depletion and air quality impacts from industrial halogen emissions in the Great Salt Lake Basin, Environmental Science & Technology, doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c05376, 2023.
- NOAA Research
- The Salt Lake Tribune
- Impacts
