Aldona Wiacek

Aldona Wiacek

Associate Professor
Ph.D., 2006, University of Toronto

Office: Science Building, S425
Contact: Aldona Wiacek
Phone: 902-491-6481
Fax: 902-496-8213

Research Interests:

• Atmospheric & Environmental Physics
• Air pollution & Climate change
• Aerosol-Cloud Interactions
• Remote sensing instrumentation & Retrieval algorithms
• Inverse Theory
• More Details here: http://www.ap.smu.ca/~awiacek/

Teaching:

ENVS 1250: Physical Processes in the Environment
ENVS 2300: Environmental Science: Populations & Ecosystems
ENVS 2310: Environmental Science: Energy, Resources & Pollution
ENVS 3360: Climate Change

Current research:

Our understanding of atmospheric chemistry, physics and dynamics is used to drive forecasting models of air quality, weather and climate. But the problems of air quality, weather and climate change are complex and connected, and we are constantly refining our understanding of the details within the big picture.

High-quality data sets of atmospheric composition are crucial for testing model predictions and improving our understanding of atmospheric processes. To this end, the Tropospheric Remote Sensing Laboratory (TRSL) is being established at Saint Mary’s University to characterize atmospheric composition in the “planetary boundary layer” – the air that we breathe!

Enquiries regarding undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral research positions are always welcome!

Refereed publications:

Whaley, C., Strong, K., Adams, C., Bourassa, A. E., Daffer, W. H., Degenstein, D. A., Fast, H., Fogal, P. F., Manney, G. L., Mittermeier, R. L., Pavlovic, B., & Wiacek, A. (2013). Using FTIR measurements of stratospheric composition to identify midlatitude polar vortex intrusions, Journal of Geophysical Research, 118(22), 12766-12783, doi:10.1002/2013JD020577

Wiacek, A., Martin, R. V., Bourassa, A. E., Lloyd, N. D., & Degenstein, D. A. (2013). Absorbing aerosol radiative effects in a Rayleigh-scattered solar radiance field observed in the limb-viewing satellite geometry, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 10, 2761-2776, doi:10.5194/amt-6-2761-2013.

Wiensz, J. T., Bourassa, A. E., Lloyd, N. D., Wiacek, A., Martin, R. V., Degenstein, D. A. (2012). Photon conservation in scattering by large ice crystals with the SASKTRAN radiative transfer model, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 113(8), 582-593, doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2012.02.007.

Wiacek, A., Peter, T., & Lohmann, U. (2010). The potential influence of Asian and African mineral dust on ice, mixed-phase and liquid water clouds, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 10, 8649-8667, doi:10.5194/acp-10-8649-2010.

Wiacek, A., & Peter, T. (2009). On the availability of uncoated mineral dust ice nuclei in cold cloud regions, Geophysical Research Letters, 36, L17801, doi:10.1029/2009GL039429.

Herich, H., Tritscher, T., Wiacek, A., Gysel, M., Weingartner, E., Lohmann, U., Baltensperger, U., Cziczo, D. (2009). Water uptake of clay and desert dust aerosol particles at sub- and supersaturated water vapor conditions, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 11(36), 7804-7809, doi:10.1039/B901585J.

Taylor, J. R., Wunch, D., Midwinter, C. Wiacek, A., Drummond, J. R., & Strong, K. (2008). An extended intercomparison of simultaneous ground-based Fourier transform infrared spectrometer measurements at the Toronto Atmospheric Observatory, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 109, 2244-2260, doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2008.03.011.

Clerbaux, C., George, M., Turquety, S., Walker, K. A., Barret, B., Bernath, P., Boone, C., Borsdorff, T., Cammas, J. P., Catoire, V., Coffey, M., Coheur, P.-F., Deeter, M., De Maziere, M., Drummond, J., Duchatelet, P., Dupuy, E., de Zafra, R., Eddounia, F., Edwards, D. P., Emmons, L., Funke, B., Gille, J., Griffith, D. W. T., Hannigan, J., Hase, F., Hopfner, M., Jones, N., Kagawa, A., Kasai, Y., Kramer, I., Le Flochmoen, E., Livesey, N. J., Lopez-Puertas, M., Luo, M., Mahieu, E., Murtagh, D., Nedelec, P., Pazmino, A., Pumphrey, H., Ricaud, P., Rinsland, C. P., Robert, C., Schneider, M., Senten, C., Stiller, G., Strandberg, A., Strong, K., Sussmann, R., Thouret, V., Urban, J., & Wiacek, A. (2008). CO measurements from the ACE-FTS satellite instrument: data analysis and validation using ground-based, airborne and spaceborne observations, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 8, 2569-2594, doi:10.5194/acp-8-2569-2008.

Wiacek, A., & Strong, K. (2008). Effects of vertical grid discretization in infrared transmission modeling, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer109, 2463-2490, doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2008.03.015.

Wiacek, A., Taylor, J. R., Strong, K., Kerzenmacher, T. E., Saari, R., Jones, N. B., & Griffith, D. W. T. (2007). Ground-based solar absorption FTIR spectroscopy: a novel optical design instrument at a new NDSC Complementary Station, characterization of retrievals and first results, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 24, 432-448, doi: 10.1175/JTECH1962.1.

Wiacek, A., Jones, N. B., Strong, K., Taylor, J. R., Mittermeier, R. L., & Fast, H. (2006) First detection of meso-thermospheri Nitric Oxide (NO) by ground-based FTIR solar absorption spectroscopy, Geophysical Research Letters,, 33 L03811, doi:10.1029/2005GL024897.

Dils, B., De Maziere, M., Blumenstock, T., Buchwitz, M., de Beek, R., Demoulin, P., Duchatelet, P., Fast, H., Frankenberg, C., Gloudemans, A., Griffith, D. W. T., Jones, N. B., Kerzenmacher, T., Kramer, I, Mahieu, E., Mellqvist, J., Mittermeier, R. L., Notholt, J., Rinsland, C. P., Schrijver, H., Smale, D., Strandberg, A., Straume, A. G., Stremme, W., Strong, K., Sussmann, R., Taylor, J. R., van den Broek, M., Wagner, T., Warneke, T., Wiacek, A., & Wood, S. (2006) Comparisons between SCIAMACHY and ground-based FTIR data for total columns of CO, CH4, CO2 and N2O, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics6, 1953-1976, doi:10.5194/acp-6-1953-2006.

Mahieu, E., Zander, R., Duchatelet, P., Hannigan, J. W., Coffey, M. T., Mikuteit, S., Hase, F., Blumenstock, T., Wiacek, A., Strong, K, Taylor, J. R., Mittermeier, R. L., Fast, H., Boone, C. D., McLeod, S. D., Walker, K. A., Bernath, P. F., & Rinsland, C. P. (2005). Comparisons between ACE-FTS and ground-based measurements of stratospheric HCl and ClONO2 loadings at northern latitudes.Geophysical Research Letters,, 32 L15S08, doi:10.1029/2005GL022396.

Quine, B. M., Strong, K., Wiacek, A., Wunch, D., Anstey, J. A., & Drummond, J. R. (2002). Scanning the Earth's Limb from a High-Altitude Balloon: the Development and Flight of a New Balloon-Based Pointing System, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 19, 618-632, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2002)019<0618:STESLF>2.0.CO;2.