William H. Brune
· Distinguished Professor of MeteorologyPennsylvania State University · Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science
Active 1971–2025
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About
William H. Brune is a Distinguished Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University. His research specialties include atmospheric chemistry and pollution, cloud physics and radiation. Brune studies atmospheric chemistry that removes volatile chemicals lofted into the air by both humans and nature, focusing on hydroxyl (OH), a molecule that acts as the atmosphere’s cleanser. His group has invented instruments to measure atmospheric OH, OH reactivity, aerosol particle formation, and ozone production rates, performing field measurements, laboratory experiments, modeling studies, and uncertainty analysis to improve understanding of atmospheric chemistry and hydroxyl’s role in it. He also studies lightning and weak electrical discharges associated with thunderstorms, using unique instruments to measure weak discharges called corona, and deploying balloon-borne ultraviolet sensors to examine electrical activity in thunderstorms. His work has revealed that lightning and weak discharges produce significant amounts of hydroxyl radicals, integrating disciplines of atmospheric chemistry, electricity, and forest ecology. Brune’s research interests include atmospheric electrical discharges, atmospheric composition from Earth's surface to the stratosphere, aerosol particle formation and aging, and model uncertainty analysis. His contributions have advanced the understanding of atmospheric oxidation processes, lightning chemistry, and the role of electrical discharges in atmospheric…
Research topics
- Atmospheric sciences
- Meteorology
- Environmental science
- Geology
- Environmental chemistry
- Oceanography
- Computer Science
- Chemistry
- Geography
- Photochemistry
Selected publications
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 357 citations
SCHO), identified through global-scale airborne observations that demonstrate it to be a major reservoir of marine sulfur. Observationally constrained model results show that more than 30% of oceanic DMS emitted to the atmosphere forms HPMTF. Coincident particle measurements suggest a strong link between HPMTF concentration and new particle formation and growth. Analyses of these observations show that HPMTF chemistry must be included in atmospheric models to improve representation of key linkag…
The NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) Mission: Imaging the Chemistry of the Global Atmosphere
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society · 2021 · 139 citations
Abstract This article provides an overview of the NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission and a summary of selected scientific findings to date. ATom was an airborne measurements and modeling campaign aimed at characterizing the composition and chemistry of the troposphere over the most remote regions of the Pacific, Southern, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans, and examining the impact of anthropogenic and natural emissions on a global scale. These remote regions dominate global chemical reactivity…
Constraining remote oxidation capacity with ATom observations
Atmospheric chemistry and physics · 2020 · 94 citations
of a long-lived unknown precursor throughout the year with significant additional emissions in the Northern Hemisphere summer. Improving the model bias for remote acetaldehyde and PAA is unlikely to fully resolve previously reported model global biases in OH and methane lifetime, suggesting that future work should examine the sources and sinks of OH over land.
Atmospheric chemistry and physics · 2023-02-07 · 47 citations
articleOpen accessCorrespondingAbstract. The availability of formaldehyde (HCHO) (a proxy for volatile organic compound reactivity) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (a proxy for nitrogen oxides) tropospheric columns from ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) satellites has motivated many to use their ratios to gain some insights into the near-surface ozone sensitivity. Strong emphasis has been placed on the challenges that come with transforming what is being observed in the tropospheric column to what is actually in the planetary boundary…
Elementa Science of the Anthropocene · 2022-01-01 · 33 citations
articleOpen accessWe present a holistic examination of tropospheric OH reactivity (OHR) in South Korea using comprehensive NASA DC-8 airborne measurements collected during the Korea–United States Air Quality field study and chemical transport models. The observed total OHR (tOHR) averaged in the planetary boundary layer (PBL, <2.0 km) and free troposphere was 5.2 s−1 and 2.0 s−1 during the campaign, respectively. These values were higher than the calculated OHR (cOHR, 3.4 s−1, 1.0 s−1) derived from trace-g…
Recent grants
Measurement and Interpretation of OH, HO2, and OH Reactivity during BEARPEX 09
NSF · $457k · 2009–2012
NSF · $536k · 2018–2022
NSF · $197k · 2019–2023
Frequent coauthors
- 133 shared
R. C. Cohen
University of California, Berkeley
- 125 shared
Xinrong Ren
- 121 shared
J. L. Jiménez
- 117 shared
J. A. de Gouw
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
- 105 shared
P. O. Wennberg
California Institute of Technology
- 96 shared
Alan Fried
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research
- 96 shared
Jeff Peischl
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- 92 shared
D. R. Blake
University of California, Irvine
Labs
William H. BrunePI
Awards & honors
- Penn State Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science…
- Penn State University-Level Alumni Awards
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