Sara Lance

The Lance Lab conducts laboratory and field studies to investigate aerosol-cloud-chemistry interactions relevant for climate, visibility and human health. Aerosol particles often cycle many times through clouds during their atmospheric lifetime, which can have substantial impact on their chemical and physical properties. Organic compounds are of particular interest, as oxidation reactions of volatile organic compounds from both anthropogenic and biogenic sources continue to be a major, but poorly understood, driver for aerosol mass loadings and regional haze in an era of greater worldwide controls on sulfur emissions.

Learn more via the Lance Research website.

2016 – Present: Research Faculty (Tenure Track), Atmospheric Sciences Research Center (ASRC), University at Albany, Albany NY

2015 – 2016: Research Scientist, Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA

2012 – 2015: Research Scientist, SPEC, Inc., Boulder CO

2010 – 2012: Research Scientist I/II, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder CO

2008 – 2010: Postdoctoral Fellow at NOAA through the National Research Council (NRC) Research Associates Program, Boulder CO

2004 – 2007: Graduate Fellow in the Advanced Studies Program (ASP) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder CO

National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) Award: 20-EARTH20-0298, 9/2021 – 8/2024, “Emergence of a New Chemical Regime: Organic Carbon and Base Cations in Whiteface Mountain Cloud Water”

National Science Foundation (NSF) Award: ANS- 2000404, 9/2020 – 8/2024, “Collaborative Proposal: CHemistry in the Artic: Clouds, Halogens and Aerosols (CHACHA) Field Campaign”

NSF Award: AGS-2025215, 7/2020-6/2021, “Workshop on the proposed Network of Mountain Observatories for Composition of the Atmosphere”

NSF CAREER Award: AGS-1945563, 2/2020 – 2/2025, “Revitalizing aerosol-cloud-chemistry research at Whiteface Mountain during an era of chemical change characterized by high pH, water soluble organics and ammonium”

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Award: 81244, 3/2018 – 3/2023, “Whiteface Mountain Cloud Sampling & Analysis”

NSF RAPID Award: 1753278, 5/2017-7/2018, “Supporting Cloud Water Collection at Whiteface Mountain Research Observatory: Pilot Study to Assess Chemical Processing of Organics within Clouds”

CIRES Innovative Research Program, 2011, “Contact Freezing on Demand: Measurement of contact nuclei with a novel instrument using single droplets levitated in an optical trap”

Lawrence, C., P. Casson, R. Brandt, J.J. Schwab, P. Snyder, E. Yerger, D. Kelting, T. VandenBoer and S. Lance (2022). Long-term monitoring of cloud water chemistry at Whiteface Mountain: Emergence of a New Chemical Regime, to be submitted to Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss.

Barth, M.C., B. Ervens, H. Herrmann, A. Tilgner, V.F. McNeill, W.G. Tsui, L. Deguillaume, N. Chaumerliac, A. Carlton, S. Lance (2021). Box Model Intercomparison of Cloud Chemistry, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126(21), e2021JD035486, doi: 10.1029/2021JD035486.

Pratap, V., Christiansen, A. E., Carlton, A. G., Lance, S., Casson, P., Dukett, J., Hassan, H., Schwab, J. J., & Hennigan, C. J. (2021). Investigating the evolution of water-soluble organic carbon in evaporating cloud water. Environmental Science: Atmospheres, 1(1), 21–30: doi.org/10.1039/d0ea00005a.

Zhang, J., Lance, S., Marto, J., Sun, Y., Ninneman, M., Crandall, B. A., et al. (2020). Evolution of aerosol under moist and fog conditions in a rural forest environment: Insights from high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometry. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL089714: doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089714.

Zhang, J., Lance, S., Wang, X., Wang, J., & Schwab, J. J. (2020). Estimation of aerosol liquid water from optical scattering instruments using ambient and dried sample streams. Atmospheric Environment, 239, 117787: doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117787.

Lance, S., J. Zhang, J.J. Schwab, P. Casson, R.E. Brandt, D.R. Fitzjarrald, M.J. Schwab, J. Sicker, C.-H. Lu, S.-P. Chen, J. Yun, J.M. Freedman, B. Shrestha, Q. Min, M. Beauharnois, B. Crandall, E. Joseph, M.J. Brewer, J.R. Minder, D. Orlowski, A. Christiansen, A.G. Carlton, M.C. Barth (2020). Overview of the Cloud Processing of Organics within Clouds (CPOC) Pilot Study at Whiteface Mountain, NY, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 101(10), E1820–E1841: doi.org: 10.1175/bams-d-19-0022.1.

Zawadowicz, M. A., S. Lance, J.T. Jayne, P. Croteau, D.R. Worsnop, F. Mahrt, T. Leisner, and D.J. Cziczo (2020). Quantifying and Improving the performance of the Laser Ablation Aerosol Particle Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (LAAPToF) Instrument, Aerosol Science & Technology, 54(7), 761-771, doi: 10.1080/02786826.2020.1724867.

Zhang, J., Lance, S., Brandt, R., Marto, J., Ninneman, M., & Schwab, J. (2019). Observed below-Cloud and Cloud Interstitial Submicron Aerosol Chemical and Physical Properties at Whiteface Mountain, New York, during August 2017. ACS Earth & Space Chemistry, 3(8), 1438–1450: doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.9b00117.

Zhang, J., S. Lance, J.M. Freedman, Y. Sun, B.A. Crandall, X. Wei, and J.J. Schwab (2019). Detailed Measurements of Submicron Particles from an Independence Day Fireworks Event in Albany, New York Using HR-ToF-AMS, ACS Earth & Space Chemistry, 3, 8, 1451-1459, doi: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.9b00046.

Lance, S., M. Barth, and A.M. Carlton (2017). Multiphase chemistry: Experimental design for coordinated measurement and modeling of cloud processing at a mountain top, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, ES163-167, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0015.1.