QUAAC was led by Prof John Pyle (University of Cambridge), with 11 co-investigators at the Universities of Sheffield, Leeds, York, Lancaster and Manchester, and from CEH.

Coupling between the chemistry/climate system and land surface processes are important controls on the atmosphere, but chemical schemes have only recently and simplistically been introduced into numerical models. QUAAC studied the role of surface processes on atmospheric oxidizing capacity and aerosol loading, building on an existing Met Office/NERC initiative to develop a new community model, UKCA, to study the interaction between climate and atmospheric composition.

New chemistry and aerosol schemes were developed for inclusion in the model. Schemes were also developed to describe (interactively wherever possible) surface emissions of reactive trace gases and deposition processes.