AirNow Information Management System - Global Earth Observation System of Systems Data Processor for Real-Time Air Quality Data Products

Science.gov (United States)

Haderman, M.; Dye, T. S.; White, J. E.; Dickerson, P.; Pasch, A. N.; Miller, D. S.; Chan, A. C.

2012-12-01

Built upon the success of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) AirNow program (www.AirNow.gov), the AirNow-International (AirNow-I) system contains an enhanced suite of software programs that process and quality control real-time air quality and environmental data and distribute customized maps, files, and data feeds. The goals of the AirNow-I program are similar to those of the successful U.S. program and include fostering the exchange of environmental data; making advances in air quality knowledge and applications; and building a community of people, organizations, and decision makers in environmental management. In 2010, Shanghai became the first city in China to run this state-of-the-art air quality data management and notification system. AirNow-I consists of a suite of modules (software programs and schedulers) centered on a database. One such module is the Information Management System (IMS), which can automatically produce maps and other data products through the use of GIS software to provide the most current air quality information to the public. Developed with Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) interoperability in mind, IMS is based on non-proprietary standards, with preference to formal international standards. The system depends on data and information providers accepting and implementing a set of interoperability arrangements, including technical specifications for collecting, processing, storing, and disseminating shared data, metadata, and products. In particular, the specifications include standards for service-oriented architecture and web-based interfaces, such as a web mapping service (WMS), web coverage service (WCS), web feature service (WFS), sensor web services, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. IMS is flexible, open, redundant, and modular. It also allows the merging of data grids to create complex grids that show comprehensive air quality conditions. For example, the AirNow Satellite Data Processor

Air Pollution Impacts on Global Crop Productivity and Nitrogen Depositio

Science.gov (United States)

Heald, C. L.; Tai, A. P. K.; Val Martin, M.

2014-12-01

The biosphere is undeniably transformed by air pollution. Emissions, climate change, and land use change are all expected to substantially alter future air quality. In this presentation, we discuss near-term projections (2050) of air quality impacts on both crop productivity and nitrogen deposition. First, we contrast the relative impacts of ozone air pollution and a warming climate on global crop yields. To do so, we define statistical crop yield functions to a warming climate based on the historical record. We combine these relationships with ozone-damage estimates and apply these to future air quality and climate projections from a global coupled chemistry-climate model (CESM). We find substantial variability in the response, with certain regions or crops more sensitive to ozone pollution and others more sensitive to warming. This work demonstrates that air quality management is a key element to ensuring global food security. Second, we examine the relative impacts of anthropogenic emissions, climate change, and land use change on global nitrogen deposition. Nitrogen deposition has rapidly increased over the Anthropocene. Excess deposition of nitrogen to ecosystems can lead to eutrophication of waters, and a decrease in biodiversity. We use the CESM to investigate two scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP8.5) and focus our analysis on the impacts on diverse ecoregions in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Impacts of ozone-vegetation coupling and feedbacks on global air quality, ecosystems and food security

Science.gov (United States)

Tai, A. P. K.

2016-12-01

Surface ozone is an air pollutant of significant concerns due to its harmful effects on human health, vegetation and crop productivity. Chronic ozone exposure is shown to reduce photosynthesis and interfere with gas exchange in plants, thereby influencing surface energy balance and biogeochemical fluxes with important ramifications for climate and atmospheric composition, including possible feedbacks onto ozone itself that are not well understood. Ozone damage on crops has been well documented, but a mechanistic understanding is not well established. Here we present several results pertaining to the effects of ozone-vegetation coupling on air quality, ecosystems and agriculture. Using the Community Earth System Model (CESM), we find that inclusion of ozone damage on plants reduces the global land carbon sink by up to 5%, while simulated ozone is enhanced by up to 6 ppbv North America, Europe and East Asia. This strong positive feedback on ozone air quality via ozone-vegetation coupling arises mainly from reduced stomatal conductance, which induces two feedback pathways: 1) reduced dry deposition and ozone uptake; and 2) reduced evapotranspiration that enhances vegetation temperature and thus isoprene emission. Using the same ozone-vegetation scheme in a crop model within CESM, we further examine the impacts of historical ozone exposure on global crop production. We contrast our model results with a separate statistical analysis designed to characterize the spatial variability of crop-ozone-temperature relationships and account for the confounding effect of ozone-temperature covariation, using multidecadal global datasets of crop yields, agroclimatic variables and ozone exposures. We find that several crops (especially C4 crops such as maize) exhibit stronger sensitivities to ozone than found by field studies or in CESM simulations. We also find a strong anticorrelation between crop sensitivities and average ozone levels, reflecting biological adaptive ozone

Forty years of improvements in European air quality: regional policy-industry interactions with global impacts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Crippa

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The EDGARv4.3.1 (Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research global anthropogenic emissions inventory of gaseous (SO2, NOx, CO, non-methane volatile organic compounds and NH3 and particulate (PM10, PM2.5, black and organic carbon air pollutants for the period 1970–2010 is used to develop retrospective air pollution emissions scenarios to quantify the roles and contributions of changes in energy consumption and efficiency, technology progress and end-of-pipe emission reduction measures and their resulting impact on health and crop yields at European and global scale. The reference EDGARv4.3.1 emissions include observed and reported changes in activity data, fuel consumption and air pollution abatement technologies over the past 4 decades, combined with Tier 1 and region-specific Tier 2 emission factors. Two further retrospective scenarios assess the interplay of policy and industry. The highest emission STAG_TECH scenario assesses the impact of the technology and end-of-pipe reduction measures in the European Union, by considering historical fuel consumption, along with a stagnation of technology with constant emission factors since 1970, and assuming no further abatement measures and improvement imposed by European emission standards. The lowest emission STAG_ENERGY scenario evaluates the impact of increased fuel consumption by considering unchanged energy consumption since the year 1970, but assuming the technological development, end-of-pipe reductions, fuel mix and energy efficiency of 2010. Our scenario analysis focuses on the three most important and most regulated sectors (power generation, manufacturing industry and road transport, which are subject to multi-pollutant European Union Air Quality regulations. Stagnation of technology and air pollution reduction measures at 1970 levels would have led to 129 % (or factor 2.3 higher SO2, 71 % higher NOx and 69 % higher PM2.5 emissions in Europe (EU27, demonstrating the large

Biomass burning in Indo-China peninsula and its impacts on regional air quality and global climate change-a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yadav, Ishwar Chandra; Linthoingambi Devi, Ningombam; Li, Jun; Syed, Jabir Hussain; Zhang, Gan; Watanabe, Hirozumi

2017-01-01

Although, many biomass burning (BB) emissions products (particulate matter and trace gases) are believed to be trans-boundary pollutants that originates from India and China (the two most populous countries in Asia), the information about BB emission and related contents is limited for Indo-China Peninsula (ICP) region. This motivated us to review this region pertaining to BB emission. The main objective of the review is to document the current status of BB emission in ICP region. In order to highlight the impact of BB on regional air quality and global climate change, the role of BB emission in ICP region is also discussed. Based on the available literature and modeling simulations studies, it is evidenced that ICP is one of the hotspot regional source for aerosols in terms of BB emissions. In addition, regional emissions through BB have significant implications for regional air quality especially in the neighboring countries such as China, Taiwan and India. Our assessment highlight that there is still a general lack of reliable data and research studies addressing BB related issues in context of environmental and human health. There is therefore a critical need to improve the current knowledge base, which should build upon the research experience and further research into these issues is considered vital to help inform future policies/control strategies. - Highlights: • Forest burning is the main sources of BB emissions in the ICP region. • ICP is one of the hotspot regional source for aerosols in terms of BB emissions. • BB emission in ICP significantly affects regional air quality and global climate. - Indo-China Peninsula is one of the hotspot sources of aerosols in terms of biomass burning emissions that significantly influence regional air quality and global climate change.

Long-term Changes in Extreme Air Pollution Meteorology and the Implications for Air Quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Pei; Wu, Shiliang

2016-03-31

Extreme air pollution meteorological events, such as heat waves, temperature inversions and atmospheric stagnation episodes, can significantly affect air quality. Based on observational data, we have analyzed the long-term evolution of extreme air pollution meteorology on the global scale and their potential impacts on air quality, especially the high pollution episodes. We have identified significant increasing trends for the occurrences of extreme air pollution meteorological events in the past six decades, especially over the continental regions. Statistical analysis combining air quality data and meteorological data further indicates strong sensitivities of air quality (including both average air pollutant concentrations and high pollution episodes) to extreme meteorological events. For example, we find that in the United States the probability of severe ozone pollution when there are heat waves could be up to seven times of the average probability during summertime, while temperature inversions in wintertime could enhance the probability of severe particulate matter pollution by more than a factor of two. We have also identified significant seasonal and spatial variations in the sensitivity of air quality to extreme air pollution meteorology.

Effects of political institutions on air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernauer, Thomas; Koubi, Vally

2009-01-01

We empirically test existing theories on the provision of public goods, in particular air quality, using data on sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) concentrations from the Global Environment Monitoring Projects for 107 cities in 42 countries from 1971 to 1996. The results are as follows: First, we provide additional support for the claim that the degree of democracy has an independent positive effect on air quality. Second, we find that among democracies, presidential systems are more conducive to air quality than parliamentary ones. Third, in testing competing claims about the effect of interest groups on public goods provision in democracies we establish that labor union strength contributes to lower environmental quality, whereas the strength of green parties has the opposite effect. (author)

General overview: European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI – integrating aerosol research from nano to global scales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Simpson

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper we describe and summarize the main achievements of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions project (EUCAARI. EUCAARI started on 1 January 2007 and ended on 31 December 2010 leaving a rich legacy including: (a a comprehensive database with a year of observations of the physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosol particles over Europe, (b comprehensive aerosol measurements in four developing countries, (c a database of airborne measurements of aerosols and clouds over Europe during May 2008, (d comprehensive modeling tools to study aerosol processes fron nano to global scale and their effects on climate and air quality. In addition a new Pan-European aerosol emissions inventory was developed and evaluated, a new cluster spectrometer was built and tested in the field and several new aerosol parameterizations and computations modules for chemical transport and global climate models were developed and evaluated. These achievements and related studies have substantially improved our understanding and reduced the uncertainties of aerosol radiative forcing and air quality-climate interactions. The EUCAARI results can be utilized in European and global environmental policy to assess the aerosol impacts and the corresponding abatement strategies.

Air pollution knows no boundaries: defining air catchment areas and making sense of physical and political boundaries in air quality management

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Scott, G

2005-10-01

Full Text Available Topics under discussion: Scales of transport and turbulence in the atmosphere; Examples of global, regional and local scale transports – concepts of an “air catchment”; Defining air quality management zones - international practice; Defining air...

Quality assurance and quality control for Hydro-Quebec's ambient air monitoring networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lambert, M.; Varfalvy, L.

1993-01-01

Hydro Quebec has three ambient air monitoring networks to determine the contribution of some of its thermal plants to ambient air quality. They are located in Becancour (gas turbines), Iles-de-la-Madeleine (diesel), and Tracy (conventional oil-fired). To ensure good quality results and consistency between networks, a quality assurance/quality control program was set up. A description is presented of the ambient air quality monitoring network and the quality assurance/quality control program. A guide has been created for use by the network operators, discussing objectives of the individual network, a complete description of each network, field operation for each model of instrument in use, treatment of data for each data logger in use, global considerations regarding quality assurance and control, and reports. A brief overview is presented of the guide's purpose and contents, focusing on the field operation section and the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide monitors. 6 figs., 1 tab

Global warming and air transport : meeting the challenge of sustainable growth

Science.gov (United States)

2009-04-01

Aviation impacts community noise footprints, air quality, water quality, energy usage and availability, and the global climate. Trends show environmental impacts from aircraft noise and aviation emissions will be a critical constraint on capacity gro...

Potential Air Quality Impacts of Global Bioenergy Crop Cultivation

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, W. C.; Rosenstiel, T. N.; Barsanti, K. C.

2012-12-01

The use of bioenergy crops as a replacement for traditional coal-powered electricity generation will require large-scale land-use change, and the resulting changes in emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) may have negative impacts on local to regional air quality. BVOCs contribute to the formation of both ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), with magnitudes of specific compound emissions governed largely by plant speciation and land coverage. For this reason, large-scale land-use change has the potential to markedly alter regional O3 and PM2.5 levels, especially if there are large differences between the emission profiles of the replacement bioenergy crops (many of which are high BVOC emitters) and the previous crops or land cover. In this work, replacement areas suitable for the cultivation of the bioenergy crops switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and giant reed (Arundo donax) were selected based on existing global inventories of under-utilized cropland and local climatological conditions. These two crops are among the most popular current candidates for bioenergy production, and provide contrasting examples of energy densities and emissions profiles. While giant reed has been selected in an ongoing large-scale coal-to-biocharcoal conversion in the Northwestern United States due to its high crop yields and energy density, it is also among the highest biogenic emitters of isoprene. On the other hand, switchgrass produces less biomass per acre, but also emits essentially no isoprene and low total BVOCs. The effects of large-scale conversion to these crops on O3 and PM2.5 were simulated using version 1.1 of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) coupled with version 2.1 of the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN). By comparing crop replacement scenarios involving A. donax and P. virgatum, the sensitivities of O3 and PM2.5 levels to worldwide increases in bioenergy production were examined, providing an initial

Large Gain in Air Quality Compared to an Alternative Anthropogenic Emissions Scenario

Science.gov (United States)

Daskalakis, Nikos; Tsigaridis, Kostas; Myriokefalitakis, Stelios; Fanourgakis, George S.; Kanakidou, Maria

2016-01-01

During the last 30 years, significant effort has been made to improve air quality through legislation for emissions reduction. Global three-dimensional chemistrytransport simulations of atmospheric composition over the past 3 decades have been performed to estimate what the air quality levels would have been under a scenario of stagnation of anthropogenic emissions per capita as in 1980, accounting for the population increase (BA1980) or using the standard practice of neglecting it (AE1980), and how they compare to the historical changes in air quality levels. The simulations are based on assimilated meteorology to account for the yearto- year observed climate variability and on different scenarios of anthropogenic emissions of pollutants. The ACCMIP historical emissions dataset is used as the starting point. Our sensitivity simulations provide clear indications that air quality legislation and technology developments have limited the rapid increase of air pollutants. The achieved reductions in concentrations of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, black carbon, and sulfate aerosols are found to be significant when comparing to both BA1980 and AE1980 simulations that neglect any measures applied for the protection of the environment. We also show the potentially large tropospheric air quality benefit from the development of cleaner technology used by the growing global population. These 30-year hindcast sensitivity simulations demonstrate that the actual benefit in air quality due to air pollution legislation and technological advances is higher than the gain calculated by a simple comparison against a constant anthropogenic emissions simulation, as is usually done. Our results also indicate that over China and India the beneficial technological advances for the air quality may have been masked by the explosive increase in local population and the disproportional increase in energy demand partially due to the globalization of the economy.

Large gain in air quality compared to an alternative anthropogenic emissions scenario

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Daskalakis

2016-08-01

Full Text Available During the last 30 years, significant effort has been made to improve air quality through legislation for emissions reduction. Global three-dimensional chemistry-transport simulations of atmospheric composition over the past 3 decades have been performed to estimate what the air quality levels would have been under a scenario of stagnation of anthropogenic emissions per capita as in 1980, accounting for the population increase (BA1980 or using the standard practice of neglecting it (AE1980, and how they compare to the historical changes in air quality levels. The simulations are based on assimilated meteorology to account for the year-to-year observed climate variability and on different scenarios of anthropogenic emissions of pollutants. The ACCMIP historical emissions dataset is used as the starting point. Our sensitivity simulations provide clear indications that air quality legislation and technology developments have limited the rapid increase of air pollutants. The achieved reductions in concentrations of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, black carbon, and sulfate aerosols are found to be significant when comparing to both BA1980 and AE1980 simulations that neglect any measures applied for the protection of the environment. We also show the potentially large tropospheric air quality benefit from the development of cleaner technology used by the growing global population. These 30-year hindcast sensitivity simulations demonstrate that the actual benefit in air quality due to air pollution legislation and technological advances is higher than the gain calculated by a simple comparison against a constant anthropogenic emissions simulation, as is usually done. Our results also indicate that over China and India the beneficial technological advances for the air quality may have been masked by the explosive increase in local population and the disproportional increase in energy demand partially due to the globalization of the economy.

Trading emissions improve air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lents, J.M.

1993-01-01

While admitting sharply contrasting views exist, James M. Lents of the South Coast Air Quality Management District in southern California sees emissions trading open-quotes as a lifesaver for our troubled planet.close quotes He explains: open-quotes If political support for the environment is to be maintained, we must seek the most economical and flexible means of pursuing cleanup. At present, market incentives and emissions trading represent our best hope.close quotes Lents is putting his money where his pen is. The air quality management district he heads plans to use market incentives, including emissions trading, to reduce air pollution in the notoriously dirty southern California area. When the system goes into operation in 1994, he estimates it will save southern California businesses more than $400 million a year in compliance costs, while also making major improvements in the region's air quality. If the idea works there, why won't it work elsewhere, even on a global scale, Lents asks? He believes it will. But open-quotes the ultimate success of emissions-trading programs, whether regional, national, or international in scope, lies in the proof that they're actually achieving reductions in harmful emissions,close quotes he emphasizes. open-quotes These reductions must be real and verifiable to satisfy the Clean Air Act and a skeptical public.close quotes

Development of the Next Generation Air Quality Modeling System (20th Joint Conference on the Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology with the A&WMA)

Science.gov (United States)

A next generation air quality modeling system is being developed at the U.S. EPA to enable modeling of air quality from global to regional to (eventually) local scales. We envision that the system will have three configurations: 1. Global meteorology with seamless mesh refinemen...

Air pollution and population health: a global challenge.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Bingheng; Kan, Haidong

2008-03-01

"Air pollution and population health" is one of the most important environmental and public health issues. Economic development, urbanization, energy consumption, transportation/motorization, and rapid population growth are major driving forces of air pollution in large cities, especially in megacities. Air pollution levels in developed countries have been decreasing dramatically in recent decades. However, in developing countries and in countries in transition, air pollution levels are still at relatively high levels, though the levels have been gradually decreasing or have remained stable during rapid economic development. In recent years, several hundred epidemiological studies have emerged showing adverse health effects associated with short-term and long-term exposure to air pollutants. Time-series studies conducted in Asian cities also showed similar health effects on mortality associated with exposure to particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) and ozone (O(3)) to those explored in Europe and North America. The World Health Organization (WHO) published the "WHO Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs), Global Update" in 2006. These updated AQGs provide much stricter guidelines for PM, NO(2), SO(2) and O(3). Considering that current air pollution levels are much higher than the WHO-recommended AQGs, interim targets for these four air pollutants are also recommended for member states, especially for developing countries in setting their country-specific air quality standards. In conclusion, ambient air pollution is a health hazard. It is more important in Asian developing countries within the context of pollution level and population density. Improving air quality has substantial, measurable and important public health benefits.

Biomass and air quality the UK experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dearnley, E.

2009-01-01

Policies to encourage the use of biomass in the UK can perhaps be held up as an example of how not to develop integrated environmental policy. The UK has considered the air quality effects of biomass burning only after putting in place policies that will hugely increase the amount of biomass burning plant that will be installed. Whilst these issues are now being addressed, it will be some time before a satisfactory framework will be in place. The current situation is not a positive one for all involved - air quality practitioners, climate change policy makers and the wider biomass industry. For clean air organisations such as Environmental Protection UK and our European counterparts there are essentially two lessons to take away. The first is that we have to raise our sights to look for potential threats to air quality from wider policy measures, and flag up potential concerns at the earliest opportunity. It is easy to focus on the job in hand (for example emissions from vehicles) and miss developments further afield. Secondly, and most importantly, we have to offer our own solutions to wider environmental challenges. Climate change is likely to remain the dominant global environmental issue for decades to come; clean air agencies need to understand this and put forward low carbon solutions that offer strong synergies with air quality. The alternative is for policy makers to see air i quality standards and clean air agencies as a barrier t to progress towards a low carbon economy, rather than a positive source of solutions. (N.C.)

Impact of Asian Dust on Climate and Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

Chin, Mian; Tan, Qian; Diehl, Thomas; Yu, Hongbin

2010-01-01

Dust generated from Asian permanent desert and desertification areas can be efficiently transported around the globe, making significant radiative impact through their absorbing and scattering solar radiation and through their deposition on snow and ice to modify the surface albedo. Asian dust is also a major concern of surface air quality not only in the source and immediate downwind regions but also areas thousands of miles away across the Pacific. We present here a global model, GOCART, analysis of data from satellite remote sensing instrument (MODIS, MISR, CALIPSO, OMI) and other observations on Asian dust sources, transport, and deposition, and use the model to assess the Asian dust impact on global climate and air quality.

Air filtration and indoor air quality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bekö, Gabriel

2006-01-01

Demands for better indoor air quality are increasing, since we spend most of our time indoors and we are more and more aware of indoor air pollution. Field studies in different parts of the world have documented that high percentage of occupants in many offices and buildings find the indoor air...... decent ventilation and air cleaning/air filtration, high indoor air quality cannot be accomplished. The need for effective air filtration has increased with increasing evidence on the hazardous effects of fine particles. Moreover, the air contains gaseous pollutants, removal of which requires various air...... cleaning techniques. Supply air filter is one of the key components in the ventilation system. Studies have shown that used ventilation filters themselves can be a significant source of indoor air pollution with consequent impact on perceived air quality, sick building syndrome symptoms and performance...

Air Quality Forecasts Using the NASA GEOS Model

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Christoph A.; Knowland, K. Emma; Nielsen, Jon E.; Orbe, Clara; Ott, Lesley; Pawson, Steven; Saunders, Emily; Duncan, Bryan; Follette-Cook, Melanie; Liu, Junhua;

Metro Vancouver air quality management plan : progress report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2008-10-15

The Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) developed an air quality management plan (AQMP) in 2005 as a means of addressing air quality issues in the region. The plan required progress reports every 2 years as well as a comprehensive review every 5 years. The AQMP established goals to minimize risk to public health from air pollution, improve visibility, and minimize the region's contributions to global climatic change by reducing emissions; implementing local air quality management programs; and enhancing air quality information and public awareness. The AQMP also included a sustainability framework for GVRD's policies and regulations related to regional growth, service delivery and political leadership. Regional strategies for solid waste and liquid waste management were developed in 2008. The sustainability framework has developed 3 priority goals: (1) to reduce diesel particulates by 75 per cent from Metro Vancouver corporate sources by 2012, (2) to be carbon neutral by 2012 excluding solid waste operations, and (3) to reduce regional GHGs by 15 per cent by 2015, and 33 per cent by 2020. Progress updates on regional planning efforts for the AQMP were presented. The report also outlined trends and performance measures used by the GVRD, and discussed changes in air quality issues and priorities that have occurred since the AQMP was adopted in 2005. 1 tab., 8 figs.

Metro Vancouver air quality management plan : progress report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-10-01

The Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) developed an air quality management plan (AQMP) in 2005 as a means of addressing air quality issues in the region. The plan required progress reports every 2 years as well as a comprehensive review every 5 years. The AQMP established goals to minimize risk to public health from air pollution, improve visibility, and minimize the region's contributions to global climatic change by reducing emissions; implementing local air quality management programs; and enhancing air quality information and public awareness. The AQMP also included a sustainability framework for GVRD's policies and regulations related to regional growth, service delivery and political leadership. Regional strategies for solid waste and liquid waste management were developed in 2008. The sustainability framework has developed 3 priority goals: (1) to reduce diesel particulates by 75 per cent from Metro Vancouver corporate sources by 2012, (2) to be carbon neutral by 2012 excluding solid waste operations, and (3) to reduce regional GHGs by 15 per cent by 2015, and 33 per cent by 2020. Progress updates on regional planning efforts for the AQMP were presented. The report also outlined trends and performance measures used by the GVRD, and discussed changes in air quality issues and priorities that have occurred since the AQMP was adopted in 2005. 1 tab., 8 figs

Updated ozone absorption cross section will reduce air quality compliance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. D. Sofen

2015-12-01

et al. (2015 as 1.8 % smaller than the accepted value (Hearn, 1961 used for the preceding 50 years. Thus, ozone measurements that applied the older cross section systematically underestimate the amount of ozone in air. We correct the reported historical surface data from North America and Europe and find that this modest change in cross section has a significant impact on the number of locations that are out of compliance with air quality regulations if the air quality standards remain the same. We find 18, 23, and 20 % increases in the number of sites that are out of compliance with current US, Canadian, and European ozone air quality health standards for the year 2012. Should the new cross-section value be applied, it would impact attainment of air quality standards and compliance with relevant clean air acts, unless the air quality target values themselves were also changed proportionately. We draw attention to how a small change in gas metrology has a global impact on attainment and compliance with legal air quality standards. We suggest that further laboratory work to evaluate the new cross section is needed and suggest three possible technical and policy responses should the new cross section be adopted.

Indoor Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

... protect yourself and your family. Learn more Air Quality at Work Workers should breathe easy while on the job, but worksites with poor air quality put employees at risk. Healthy air is essential ...

Air quality management: challenges and solutions in delivering air quality action plans

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beattie, C.I.; Longhurst, J.W.S.; Woodfield, N.K.

2000-07-01

The Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (DETR, 2001) has the aim of showing how improved local air quality in the UK may be delivered. Through a process of reviewing and assessing local air quality in both urban and rural localities, a clear picture is emerging of areas of the UK where air quality objectives are not likely to be met. The next challenge will be the identification of the required actions and new ways of working to achieve specific air quality objectives. The declaration of air quality management areas, where objectives are not predicted to be met by their target years, involves co-ordinated local action and collaborative working, which can only be effective with support across local authority departments and external stake holders. This paper provides a background to the relevant legislation underpinning, local air quality management and summarises the review and assessment process. It then comments on future directions in relation to the designation of Air Quality Management Areas and considers the requirements of action plans to deliver the goal of cleaner air in the UK. It is concluded that the UK has developed a highly sophisticated system of air quality management over a relatively short period of time, and with it has brought a new way of local authority working. The challenge of the next stage of the process is likely to be in implementing cost effective and proportional solutions to identified problems at the local level. (Author)

The use of air quality index (AQI) in environmental management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cuesta Santos, Osvaldo; Wallo Vazquez, Antonio; Collazo Aranda, Arnaldo

2006-01-01

The air quality index (AQI) is considered a global air quality index in a particular moment or day and in a specific monitoring station. The AQI is to be interpreted as a guiding air quality index for the general public. Specialists should take into account other factors when studying the pollution levels. The behaviour of air pollution is studied by using the AQI in two monitoring points in Regla, where the main pollutants are measured: SO 2 , NO 2 and total suspended particulates. It was founded that particulates and NO 2 are the pollutants that contribute most to the air quality deterioration, which occurs with greater frequency-days in the categories Poor and Bad, and show an increase in the categories Terrible and Critical. The necessary recommendations for the reduction of air pollution are given. The use of this AQI for assessing air pollution in settlements is recommended as a good tool for environmental information and management. A visual scale is proposed to improve and facilitate the public's understanding

Analysis of air quality in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kasim, Oluwasinaayomi Faith; Woldetisadik Abshare, Muluneh; Agbola, Samuel Babatunde

2017-12-07

Ambient air quality was monitored and analyzed to develop air quality index and its implications for livability and climate change in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. Using survey research design, 16 georeferenced locations, representing different land uses, were randomly selected and assessed for sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO),volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and meteorological parameters (temperature and relative humidity). The study found mean concentrations across all land uses for SO 2 of 0.37 ± 0.08 ppm, NO 2 of 0.13 ± 0.17 ppm, CO 2 of 465.65 ± 28.63 ppm, CO of 3.35 ± 2.04 ppm, and VOCs of 1850.67 ± 402 ppm. An air quality index indicated that ambient air quality for SO 2 was very poor, NO 2 ranged from moderate to very poor, whereas CO rating was moderate. Significant positive correlations existed between temperature and NO 2 , CO 2 , and CO and between humidity and VOCs. Significant relationships were also recorded between CO 2 and NO 2 and between CO and CO 2 . Poor urban planning, inadequate pollution control measure, and weak capacity to monitor air quality have implications for energy usage, air quality, and local meteorological parameters, with subsequent feedback into global climate change. Implementation of programs to monitor and control emissions in order to reduce air pollution will provide health, economic, and environmental benefits to the city. The need to develop and implement emission control programs to reduce air pollution in Dire Dawa City is urgent. This will provide enormous economic, health, and environmental benefits. It is expected that economic effects of air quality improvement will offset the expenditures for pollution control. Also, strategies that focus on air quality and climate change present a unique opportunity to engage different stakeholders in providing inclusive and sustainable development agenda for Dire Dawa.

Increasing the Use of Earth Science Data and Models in Air Quality Management.

Science.gov (United States)

Milford, Jana B; Knight, Daniel

2017-04-01

In 2010, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) initiated the Air Quality Applied Science Team (AQAST) as a 5-year, $17.5-million award with 19 principal investigators. AQAST aims to increase the use of Earth science products in air quality-related research and to help meet air quality managers' information needs. We conducted a Web-based survey and a limited number of follow-up interviews to investigate federal, state, tribal, and local air quality managers' perspectives on usefulness of Earth science data and models, and on the impact AQAST has had. The air quality managers we surveyed identified meeting the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone and particulate matter, emissions from mobile sources, and interstate air pollution transport as top challenges in need of improved information. Most survey respondents viewed inadequate coverage or frequency of satellite observations, data uncertainty, and lack of staff time or resources as barriers to increased use of satellite data by their organizations. Managers who have been involved with AQAST indicated that the program has helped build awareness of NASA Earth science products, and assisted their organizations with retrieval and interpretation of satellite data and with application of global chemistry and climate models. AQAST has also helped build a network between researchers and air quality managers with potential for further collaborations. NASA's Air Quality Applied Science Team (AQAST) aims to increase the use of satellite data and global chemistry and climate models for air quality management purposes, by supporting research and tool development projects of interest to both groups. Our survey and interviews of air quality managers indicate they found value in many AQAST projects and particularly appreciated the connections to the research community that the program facilitated. Managers expressed interest in receiving continued support for their organizations' use of

Estimating the Impact of Urbanization on Air Quality in China Using Spatial Regression Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chuanglin Fang

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Urban air pollution is one of the most visible environmental problems to have accompanied China’s rapid urbanization. Based on emission inventory data from 2014, gathered from 289 cities, we used Global and Local Moran’s I to measure the spatial autorrelation of Air Quality Index (AQI values at the city level, and employed Ordinary Least Squares (OLS, Spatial Lag Model (SAR, and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR to quantitatively estimate the comprehensive impact and spatial variations of China’s urbanization process on air quality. The results show that a significant spatial dependence and heterogeneity existed in AQI values. Regression models revealed urbanization has played an important negative role in determining air quality in Chinese cities. The population, urbanization rate, automobile density, and the proportion of secondary industry were all found to have had a significant influence over air quality. Per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP and the scale of urban land use, however, failed the significance test at 10% level. The GWR model performed better than global models and the results of GWR modeling show that the relationship between urbanization and air quality was not constant in space. Further, the local parameter estimates suggest significant spatial variation in the impacts of various urbanization factors on air quality.

Air Quality of Beijing and Impacts of the New Ambient Air Quality Standard

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Chen

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Beijing has been publishing daily reports on its air quality since 2000, and while the air pollution index (API shows that the air quality has improved greatly since 2000, this is not the perception of Beijing’s residents. The new national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS-2012, which includes the monitoring of PM2.5, has posed stricter standards for evaluating air quality. With the new national standard, the air quality in Beijing is calculated using both NAAQS-2012 and the previous standard. The annual attainment rate has dropped from 75.5% to 50.7%. The spatial analysis of air quality shows that only a background station could attain the national standard, while urban and suburban stations exceed the national standard. Among the six pollutants included in the NAAQS-2012, PM2.5 is the major contributor to the air quality index (AQI comparing with the five other pollutants. The results indicate that under previous NAAQS without PM2.5 monitoring, the air quality has improved greatly in the past decade.  By considering PM2.5, the air quality attainment has dropped greatly. Furthermore, a great effort is needed for local government to bring down the PM2.5 concentration.

Particulate matter air pollution may offset ozone damage to global crop production

Science.gov (United States)

Schiferl, Luke D.; Heald, Colette L.

2018-04-01

Ensuring global food security requires a comprehensive understanding of environmental pressures on food production, including the impacts of air quality. Surface ozone damages plants and decreases crop production; this effect has been extensively studied. In contrast, the presence of particulate matter (PM) in the atmosphere can be beneficial to crops given that enhanced light scattering leads to a more even and efficient distribution of photons which can outweigh total incoming radiation loss. This study quantifies the impacts of ozone and PM on the global production of maize, rice, and wheat in 2010 and 2050. We show that accounting for the growing season of these crops is an important factor in determining their air pollution exposure. We find that the effect of PM can offset much, if not all, of the reduction in yield associated with ozone damage. Assuming maximum sensitivity to PM, the current (2010) global net impact of air quality on crop production varies by crop (+5.6, -3.7, and +4.5 % for maize, wheat, and rice, respectively). Future emissions scenarios indicate that attempts to improve air quality can result in a net negative effect on crop production in areas dominated by the PM effect. However, we caution that the uncertainty in this assessment is large, due to the uncertainty associated with crop response to changes in diffuse radiation; this highlights that a more detailed physiological study of this response for common cultivars is crucial.

Particulate matter air pollution may offset ozone damage to global crop production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. D. Schiferl

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Ensuring global food security requires a comprehensive understanding of environmental pressures on food production, including the impacts of air quality. Surface ozone damages plants and decreases crop production; this effect has been extensively studied. In contrast, the presence of particulate matter (PM in the atmosphere can be beneficial to crops given that enhanced light scattering leads to a more even and efficient distribution of photons which can outweigh total incoming radiation loss. This study quantifies the impacts of ozone and PM on the global production of maize, rice, and wheat in 2010 and 2050. We show that accounting for the growing season of these crops is an important factor in determining their air pollution exposure. We find that the effect of PM can offset much, if not all, of the reduction in yield associated with ozone damage. Assuming maximum sensitivity to PM, the current (2010 global net impact of air quality on crop production varies by crop (+5.6, −3.7, and +4.5 % for maize, wheat, and rice, respectively. Future emissions scenarios indicate that attempts to improve air quality can result in a net negative effect on crop production in areas dominated by the PM effect. However, we caution that the uncertainty in this assessment is large, due to the uncertainty associated with crop response to changes in diffuse radiation; this highlights that a more detailed physiological study of this response for common cultivars is crucial.

A novel, fuzzy-based air quality index (FAQI) for air quality assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Sowlat, Mohammad Hossein; Gharibi, Hamed; Yunesian, Masud; Tayefeh Mahmoudi, Maryam; Lotfi, Saeedeh

2011-04-01

The ever increasing level of air pollution in most areas of the world has led to development of a variety of air quality indices for estimation of health effects of air pollution, though the indices have their own limitations such as high levels of subjectivity. Present study, therefore, aimed at developing a novel, fuzzy-based air quality index (FAQI ) to handle such limitations. The index developed by present study is based on fuzzy logic that is considered as one of the most common computational methods of artificial intelligence. In addition to criteria air pollutants (i.e. CO, SO 2, PM 10, O 3, NO 2), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and 1,3-butadiene were also taken into account in the index proposed, because of their considerable health effects. Different weighting factors were then assigned to each pollutant according to its priority. Trapezoidal membership functions were employed for classifications and the final index consisted of 72 inference rules. To assess the performance of the index, a case study was carried out employing air quality data at five different sampling stations in Tehran, Iran, from January 2008 to December 2009, results of which were then compared to the results obtained from USEPA air quality index (AQI). According to the results from present study, fuzzy-based air quality index is a comprehensive tool for classification of air quality and tends to produce accurate results. Therefore, it can be considered useful, reliable, and suitable for consideration by local authorities in air quality assessment and management schemes. Fuzzy-based air quality index (FAQI).

Smartphone Air Quality and Atmospheric Aerosol Characterization for Public Health Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Strong, S. B.; Brown, D. M.; Brown, A.

2014-12-01

Air quality is a major global concern. Tracking and monitoring air quality provides individuals with the knowledge to make personal decisions about their health and investigate the environment in which they live. Satellite remote sensing and ground-based observations (e.g. Environmental Protection Agency, NASA Aerosol Robotic Network) of air quality is spatially and temporarlly limited and often neglects to provide individuals with the freedom to understand their own personal environment using their personal observations. Given the ubiquitous nature of smartphones, individuals have access to powerful processing and sensing capabilities. When coupled with the appropriate sensor parameters, filters, and algorithms, smartphones can be used both for 'citizen science' air quality applications and 'professional' scientific atmospheric investigations, alike, simplifying data analysis, processing, and improving deployment efficiency. We evaluate the validity of smartphone technology for air quality investigations using standard Cimel CE 318 sun photometry and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroradiometer (FTIR) observations at specific locations.

Co-benefits of global, domestic, and sectoral greenhouse gas mitigation for US air quality and human health in 2050

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Yuqiang; Smith, Steven J.; Bowden, Jared H.; Adelman, Zachariah; West, J. Jason

2017-11-01

Policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can bring ancillary benefits of improved air quality and reduced premature mortality, in addition to slowing climate change. Here we study the co-benefits of global and domestic GHG mitigation on US air quality and human health in 2050 at fine resolution using dynamical downscaling, and quantify for the first time the co-benefits from foreign GHG mitigation. Relative to a reference scenario, global GHG reductions in RCP4.5 avoid 16000 PM2.5-related all-cause deaths yr-1 (90% confidence interval, 11700-20300), and 8000 (3600-12400) O3-related respiratory deaths yr-1 in the US in 2050. Foreign GHG mitigation avoids 15% and 62% of PM2.5- and O3-related total avoided deaths, highlighting the importance of foreign GHG mitigation on US human health benefits. GHG mitigation in the US residential sector brings the largest co-benefits for PM2.5-related deaths (21% of total domestic co-benefits), and industry for O3 (17%). Monetized benefits, for avoided deaths from ozone, PM2.5, and heat stress from a related study, are $148 ($96-201) per ton CO2 at high valuation and $49 ($32-67) at low valuation, of which 36% are from foreign GHG reductions. These benefits likely exceed the marginal cost of GHG reductions in 2050. The US gains significantly greater co-benefits when coordinating GHG reductions with foreign countries. Similarly, previous studies estimating co-benefits locally or regionally may greatly underestimate the full co-benefits of coordinated global actions.

Modeling the Impacts of Global Climate and Regional Land Use Change on Regional Climate, Air Quality and Public Health in the New York Metropolitan Region

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenthal, J. E.; Knowlton, K. M.; Kinney, P. L.

2002-12-01

There is an imminent need to downscale the global climate models used by international consortiums like the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) to predict the future regional impacts of climate change. To meet this need, a "place-based" climate model that makes specific regional projections about future environmental conditions local inhabitants could face is being created by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, in collaboration with other researchers and universities, for New York City and the 31 surrounding counties. This presentation describes the design and initial results of this modeling study, aimed at simulating the effects of global climate change and regional land use change on climate and air quality over the northeastern United States in order to project the associated public health impacts in the region. Heat waves and elevated concentrations of ozone and fine particles are significant current public health stressors in the New York metropolitan area. The New York Climate and Health Project is linking human dimension and natural sciences models to assess the potential for future public health impacts from heat stress and air quality, and yield improved tools for assessing climate change impacts. The model will be applied to the NY metropolitan east coast region. The following questions will be addressed: 1. What changes in the frequency and severity of extreme heat events are likely to occur over the next 80 years due to a range of possible scenarios of land use and land cover (LU/LC) and climate change in the region? 2. How might the frequency and severity of episodic concentrations of ozone (O3) and airborne particulate matter smaller than 2.5 æm in diameter (PM2.5) change over the next 80 years due to a range of possible scenarios of land use and climate change in the metropolitan region? 3. What is the range of possible human health impacts of these changes in the region? 4. How might projected future human

NOAA's National Air Quality Predictions and Development of Aerosol and Atmospheric Composition Prediction Components for the Next Generation Global Prediction System

Science.gov (United States)

Stajner, I.; Hou, Y. T.; McQueen, J.; Lee, P.; Stein, A. F.; Tong, D.; Pan, L.; Huang, J.; Huang, H. C.; Upadhayay, S.

2016-12-01

NOAA provides operational air quality predictions using the National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC): ozone and wildfire smoke for the United States and airborne dust for the contiguous 48 states at http://airquality.weather.gov. NOAA's predictions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) became publicly available in February 2016. Ozone and PM2.5 predictions are produced using a system that operationally links the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model with meteorological inputs from the North American mesoscale forecast Model (NAM). Smoke and dust predictions are provided using the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Current NAQFC focus is on updating CMAQ to version 5.0.2, improving PM2.5 predictions, and updating emissions estimates, especially for NOx using recently observed trends. Wildfire smoke emissions from a newer version of the USFS BlueSky system are being included in a new configuration of the NAQFC NAM-CMAQ system, which is re-run for the previous 24 hours when the wildfires were observed from satellites, to better represent wildfire emissions prior to initiating predictions for the next 48 hours. In addition, NOAA is developing the Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS) to represent the earth system for extended weather prediction. NGGPS will include a representation of atmospheric dynamics, physics, aerosols and atmospheric composition as well as coupling with ocean, wave, ice and land components. NGGPS is being developed with a broad community involvement, including community developed components and academic research to develop and test potential improvements for potentially inclusion in NGGPS. Several investigators at NOAA's research laboratories and in academia are working to improve the aerosol and gaseous chemistry representation for NGGPS, to develop and evaluate the representation of atmospheric composition, and to establish and improve the coupling with radiation and microphysics

GNAQPMS v1.1: accelerating the Global Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (GNAQPMS) on Intel Xeon Phi processors

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hui; Chen, Huansheng; Wu, Qizhong; Lin, Junmin; Chen, Xueshun; Xie, Xinwei; Wang, Rongrong; Tang, Xiao; Wang, Zifa

2017-08-01

The Global Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (GNAQPMS) is the global version of the Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (NAQPMS), which is a multi-scale chemical transport model used for air quality forecast and atmospheric environmental research. In this study, we present the porting and optimisation of GNAQPMS on a second-generation Intel Xeon Phi processor, codenamed Knights Landing (KNL). Compared with the first-generation Xeon Phi coprocessor (codenamed Knights Corner, KNC), KNL has many new hardware features such as a bootable processor, high-performance in-package memory and ISA compatibility with Intel Xeon processors. In particular, we describe the five optimisations we applied to the key modules of GNAQPMS, including the CBM-Z gas-phase chemistry, advection, convection and wet deposition modules. These optimisations work well on both the KNL 7250 processor and the Intel Xeon E5-2697 V4 processor. They include (1) updating the pure Message Passing Interface (MPI) parallel mode to the hybrid parallel mode with MPI and OpenMP in the emission, advection, convection and gas-phase chemistry modules; (2) fully employing the 512 bit wide vector processing units (VPUs) on the KNL platform; (3) reducing unnecessary memory access to improve cache efficiency; (4) reducing the thread local storage (TLS) in the CBM-Z gas-phase chemistry module to improve its OpenMP performance; and (5) changing the global communication from writing/reading interface files to MPI functions to improve the performance and the parallel scalability. These optimisations greatly improved the GNAQPMS performance. The same optimisations also work well for the Intel Xeon Broadwell processor, specifically E5-2697 v4. Compared with the baseline version of GNAQPMS, the optimised version was 3.51 × faster on KNL and 2.77 × faster on the CPU. Moreover, the optimised version ran at 26 % lower average power on KNL than on the CPU. With the combined performance and energy

77 FR 30087 - Air Quality Designations for the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-21

... and 81 Air Quality Designations for the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards; Implementation of the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone: Nonattainment Area Classifications...-9668-2] RIN 2060-AP37 Air Quality Designations for the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality...

Impacts of Residential Biofuel Emissions on Air Quality and Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Y.; Unger, N.; Harper, K.; Storelvmo, T.

2016-12-01

The residential biofuel sector is defined as fuelwood, agricultural residues and dung used for household cooking and heating. Aerosol emissions from this human activity play an important role affecting local, regional and global air quality, climate and public health. However, there are only few studies available that evaluate the net impacts and large uncertainties persist. Here we use the Community Atmosphere Model version 5.3 (CAM v5.3) within the Community Earth System Model version 1.2.2, to quantify the impacts of cook-stove biofuel emissions on air quality and climate. The model incorporates a novel advanced treatment of black carbon (BC) effects on mixed-phase/ice clouds. We update the global anthropogenic emission inventory in CAM v5.3 to a state-of-the-art emission inventory from the Greenhouse Gas-Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies integrated assessment model. Global in-situ and aircraft campaign observations for BC and organic carbon are used to evaluate and validate the model performance. Sensitivity simulations are employed to assess the impacts of residential biofuel emissions on regional and global direct and indirect radiative forcings in the contemporary world. We focus the analyses on several key regions including India, China and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Transboundary health impacts of transported global air pollution and international trade

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, D.; Zhang, Q.; Jiang, X.

2017-12-01

Millions of people die every year from diseases caused by exposure to outdoor air pollution. Some studies have estimated premature mortality related to local sources of air pollution, but local air quality can also be affected by atmospheric transport of pollution from distant sources. International trade is contributing to the globalization of emission and pollution as a result of the production of goods (and their associated emissions) in one region for consumption in another region. The effects of international trade on air pollutant emissions, air quality and health have been investigated regionally, but a combined, global assessment of the health impacts related to international trade and the transport of atmospheric air pollution is lacking. Here we combine four global models to estimate premature mortality caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution as a result of atmospheric transport and the production and consumption of goods and services in different world regions. We find that, of the 3.45 million premature deaths related to PM2.5 pollution in 2007 worldwide, about 12 per cent (411,100 deaths) were related to air pollutants emitted in a region of the world other than that in which the death occurred, and about 22 per cent (762,400 deaths) were associated with goods and services produced in one region for consumption in another. For example, PM2.5 pollution produced in China in 2007 is linked to more than 64,800 premature deaths in regions other than China, including more than 3,100 premature deaths in western Europe and the USA; on the other hand, consumption in western Europe and the USA is linked to more than 108,600 premature deaths in China. Our results reveal that the transboundary health impacts of PM2.5 pollution associated with international trade are greater than those associated with long-distance atmospheric pollutant transport.

Transboundary health impacts of transported global air pollution and international trade.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qiang; Jiang, Xujia; Tong, Dan; Davis, Steven J; Zhao, Hongyan; Geng, Guannan; Feng, Tong; Zheng, Bo; Lu, Zifeng; Streets, David G; Ni, Ruijing; Brauer, Michael; van Donkelaar, Aaron; Martin, Randall V; Huo, Hong; Liu, Zhu; Pan, Da; Kan, Haidong; Yan, Yingying; Lin, Jintai; He, Kebin; Guan, Dabo

2017-03-29

Millions of people die every year from diseases caused by exposure to outdoor air pollution. Some studies have estimated premature mortality related to local sources of air pollution, but local air quality can also be affected by atmospheric transport of pollution from distant sources. International trade is contributing to the globalization of emission and pollution as a result of the production of goods (and their associated emissions) in one region for consumption in another region. The effects of international trade on air pollutant emissions, air quality and health have been investigated regionally, but a combined, global assessment of the health impacts related to international trade and the transport of atmospheric air pollution is lacking. Here we combine four global models to estimate premature mortality caused by fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) pollution as a result of atmospheric transport and the production and consumption of goods and services in different world regions. We find that, of the 3.45 million premature deaths related to PM 2.5 pollution in 2007 worldwide, about 12 per cent (411,100 deaths) were related to air pollutants emitted in a region of the world other than that in which the death occurred, and about 22 per cent (762,400 deaths) were associated with goods and services produced in one region for consumption in another. For example, PM 2.5 pollution produced in China in 2007 is linked to more than 64,800 premature deaths in regions other than China, including more than 3,100 premature deaths in western Europe and the USA; on the other hand, consumption in western Europe and the USA is linked to more than 108,600 premature deaths in China. Our results reveal that the transboundary health impacts of PM 2.5 pollution associated with international trade are greater than those associated with long-distance atmospheric pollutant transport.

Local pollutants go global: The impacts of intercontinental air pollution from China on air quality and morbidity in California.

Science.gov (United States)

Ngo, Nicole S; Bao, Xiaojia; Zhong, Nan

2018-08-01

China is among the greatest emitters of air pollution in the world and one concern is the effects of intercontinental air pollution traveling across the Pacific Ocean from China to the U.S. We exploit a natural experiment by observing the effects of changes in intercontinental air pollution associated with Chinese New Year, a 7-day national holiday, and sandstorms from China on air quality and morbidity in California. The timing of these events are unlikely correlated to other factors affecting air quality and health in California. Chinese New Year follows the Lunar New Year which varies each traditional calendar year while sandstorms are a naturally occurring phenomenon. We examine effects on morbidity using restricted emergency department and inpatient hospitalization data for the universe of patients with respiratory and heart disease between 2005 and 2012 in California. This is the first study to use patient-level data to examine the effects of trans-Pacific air pollution from China on morbidity in the U.S. We show that heavy sandstorms are associated with a modest increase in acute respiratory disease per capita, representing 0.5-4.6% of average weekly hospitalizations. However, we find no significant effect on morbidity in California from Chinese New Year. Results suggest that policymakers could prepare for changes in air quality following major sandstorms in China. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Air quality monitoring at Seoul, Korea as a part of East-Asian air surveillance network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hashimoto, Y.; Sekine, Y.; Kim, H.K.; Otoshi, T.

1989-01-01

Global scale air pollution study is a recent trend due to a perception that air pollution is changing climate and other essential earth's conditions that could seriously affect our lives. One of the important tasks which can contribute to protect our natural environment must be to know about the present and changing air quality. For this purpose, a regional air monitoring plan was designed by a research group and has proceeded to set up stations in the eastern Asia including Japan, Korea and China to get continuous data which can contribute to world wide data base of air quality. This project was initiated at Seoul, Korea in April, 1986 by the method of National Air Surveillance Network, Japan. Airborne particles were collected by so-called Hi-vol and Lo-vol, and their components were analyzed by neutron activation analysis and others. The results of Seoul sampling as a first step of this network plan are presented

Air quality and Atmospheric resources: Phase 1: Background document

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

The Environment and Sustainable Development Indicators (ESDI) initiative, under the umbrella of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE), commissioned a study for the evaluation and the development of sustainable development indicators (SDIs) in the field of air quality and atmospheric resources. The report contained key information with regard to each indicator or indicator set, and no comprehensive comparative analysis was performed. The report was designed to be used as a technical reference. Where appropriate, SDIs developed by foreign organizations were included. The emphasis of the report was: (1) ambient air quality and human health effects, (2) air emissions having transboundary or global implications for ecosystem health and human health, and (3) demand on the atmosphere for environmental services. The bulk of the research was conducted on the Internet. The report was divided into three sections. A review of the availability of SDIs based on ambient air quality measures was discussed in the first section, while the second section was devoted to the availability of SDIs based on pollutant emission levels. The last section contained a systematic review of those SDIs used or being proposed along with the supporting data available to calculate SDI values. Some observations were also made touching on topics such as the abundance of ambient air quality information, the abundance of pollutant emissions information, the linkages between emissions and ambient air quality, the absence of forecasting, the indoor air quality gap, and the connections to human health. refs., 1 fig

Air Quality at Your Street

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Steen Solvang; Becker, Thomas; Ketzel, Matthias

Citizens are frequently concerned about the air quality where they live, where they go to work, where their children go to kindergarten or where they want to move to. Municipalities may also have an interest in location based air quality information e.g. in relation to screening of complaints from...... concerned citizents, or in the context of localization of institutions, etc. The purpose of the project ‘Air Quality at Your Street’ is to create interactive air quality maps on the internet using webGIS to illustrate the geographical variation of air quality in Denmark for selected health related air...... pollutants. The maps show annual means of NO2, PM2.5 or PM10 for 2012. The user interface presents modelled air quality data on a map where the user can select map view, pan, zoom in and out, etc. It is also possible to get the air quality for a particular address by entering a specific address. Air quality...

Effects of business-as-usual anthropogenic emissions on air quality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Pozzer

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The atmospheric chemistry general circulation model EMAC has been used to estimate the impact of anthropogenic emission changes on global and regional air quality in recent and future years (2005, 2010, 2025 and 2050. The emission scenario assumes that population and economic growth largely determine energy and food consumption and consequent pollution sources with the current technologies ("business as usual". This scenario is chosen to show the effects of not implementing legislation to prevent additional climate change and growing air pollution, other than what is in place for the base year 2005, representing a pessimistic (but plausible future.

By comparing with recent observations, it is shown that the model reproduces the main features of regional air pollution distributions though with some imprecisions inherent to the coarse horizontal resolution (~100 km and simplified bottom-up emission input.

To identify possible future hot spots of poor air quality, a multi pollutant index (MPI, suited for global model output, has been applied. It appears that East and South Asia and the Middle East represent such hotspots due to very high pollutant concentrations, while a general increase of MPIs is observed in all populated regions in the Northern Hemisphere. In East Asia a range of pollutant gases and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5 is projected to reach very high levels from 2005 onward, while in South Asia air pollution, including ozone, will grow rapidly towards the middle of the century. Around the Persian Gulf, where natural PM_2.5 concentrations are already high (desert dust, ozone levels are expected to increase strongly.

The population weighted MPI (PW-MPI, which combines demographic and pollutant concentration projections, shows that a rapidly increasing number of people worldwide will experience reduced air quality during the first half of the 21st century. Following this business as usual

Air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

This chapter of the 'Assessment of the state of the environment in Lebanon' describes the air quality and identifies the most important air quality issues. Baseline information about the factors affecting dispersion and the climate of Lebanon presents as well and overall estimation of total emissions in Lebanon. Emissions from vehicles, electricity and power plants generation are described. Industrial emitters of air pollutants are described for each kind of industry i.e.cement plants, Selaata fertilizer factory, sugar-beet factory, refineries and for those derived from the use of leaded fuel . Impact of economic and human activities on air quality in Lebanon (especially in Beirut and Tripoli) are quantified by quantities of CO 2 , SO 2 , NO x , total suspended particulates(TSP), deposition and their environmental effects on health. In abscence of emissions monitoring, data available are expressed in terms of fuel use, output and appropriate empirical factors, national output and workfores sizes. Finally key issues and some potential mitigation /management approaches are presented

MEGAPOLI: concept of multi-scale modelling of megacity impact on air quality and climate

Science.gov (United States)

Baklanov, A.; Lawrence, M.; Pandis, S.; Mahura, A.; Finardi, S.; Moussiopoulos, N.; Beekmann, M.; Laj, P.; Gomes, L.; Jaffrezo, J.-L.; Borbon, A.; Coll, I.; Gros, V.; Sciare, J.; Kukkonen, J.; Galmarini, S.; Giorgi, F.; Grimmond, S.; Esau, I.; Stohl, A.; Denby, B.; Wagner, T.; Butler, T.; Baltensperger, U.; Builtjes, P.; van den Hout, D.; van der Gon, H. D.; Collins, B.; Schluenzen, H.; Kulmala, M.; Zilitinkevich, S.; Sokhi, R.; Friedrich, R.; Theloke, J.; Kummer, U.; Jalkinen, L.; Halenka, T.; Wiedensholer, A.; Pyle, J.; Rossow, W. B.

2010-11-01

The EU FP7 Project MEGAPOLI: "Megacities: Emissions, urban, regional and Global Atmospheric POLlution and climate effects, and Integrated tools for assessment and mitigation" (http://megapoli.info) brings together leading European research groups, state-of-the-art scientific tools and key players from non-European countries to investigate the interactions among megacities, air quality and climate. MEGAPOLI bridges the spatial and temporal scales that connect local emissions, air quality and weather with global atmospheric chemistry and climate. The suggested concept of multi-scale integrated modelling of megacity impact on air quality and climate and vice versa is discussed in the paper. It requires considering different spatial and temporal dimensions: time scales from seconds and hours (to understand the interaction mechanisms) up to years and decades (to consider the climate effects); spatial resolutions: with model down- and up-scaling from street- to global-scale; and two-way interactions between meteorological and chemical processes.

78 FR 53270 - Revision of Air Quality Implementation Plan; California; Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-29

... Quality Implementation Plan; California; Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District... to the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (SMAQMD or District) portion of the..., Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, Rule 214 (Federal New Source Review), Rule 203...

Local Air Quality Conditions and Forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

... Monitor Location Archived Maps by Region Canada Air Quality Air Quality on Google Earth Links A-Z About AirNow AirNow International Air Quality Action Days / Alerts AirCompare Air Quality Index (AQI) ...

Air quality and disease

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

First page Back Continue Last page Overview Graphics. Climate change is an important determinant of air quality. Climate change is an important determinant of air quality. Poor air quality associated with higher levels of respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Exposure to high levels of ground-level ozone associated with ...

A new air quality monitoring and early warning system: Air quality assessment and air pollutant concentration prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Zhongshan; Wang, Jian

2017-10-01

Air pollution in many countries is worsening with industrialization and urbanization, resulting in climate change and affecting people's health, thus, making the work of policymakers more difficult. It is therefore both urgent and necessary to establish amore scientific air quality monitoring and early warning system to evaluate the degree of air pollution objectively, and predict pollutant concentrations accurately. However, the integration of air quality assessment and air pollutant concentration prediction to establish an air quality system is not common. In this paper, we propose a new air quality monitoring and early warning system, including an assessment module and forecasting module. In the air quality assessment module, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation is used to determine the main pollutants and evaluate the degree of air pollution more scientifically. In the air pollutant concentration prediction module, a novel hybridization model combining complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition, a modified cuckoo search and differential evolution algorithm, and an Elman neural network, is proposed to improve the forecasting accuracy of six main air pollutant concentrations. To verify the effectiveness of this system, pollutant data for two cities in China are used. The result of the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation shows that the major air pollutants in Xi'an and Jinan are PM 10 and PM 2.5 respectively, and that the air quality of Xi'an is better than that of Jinan. The forecasting results indicate that the proposed hybrid model is remarkably superior to all benchmark models on account of its higher prediction accuracy and stability. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

78 FR 10589 - Revision of Air Quality Implementation Plan; California; Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-14

... Quality Implementation Plan; California; Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District... Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (SMAQMD or District) portion of the California State... sources within the areas covered by the plan as necessary to assure that the National Ambient Air Quality...

Effects of Northern Hemisphere Sea Surface Temperature Changes on the Global Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, K.; Liu, J.

2017-12-01

The roles of regional sea surface temperature (SST) variability on modulating the climate system and consequently the air quality are investigated using the Community Earth System Model (CESM). Idealized, spatially uniform SST anomalies of +/- 1 °C are superimposed onto the North Pacific, North Atlantic, and North Indian Oceans individually. Ignoring the response of natural emissions, our simulations suggest large seasonal and regional variability of surface O3 and PM2.5 concentrations in response to SST anomalies, especially during boreal summers. Increasing the SST by 1 °C in one of the oceans generally decreases the surface O3 concentrations from 1 to 5 ppbv while increases the anthropogenic PM2.5 concentrations from 0.5 to 3 µg m-3. We implement the integrated process rate (IPR) analysis in CESM and find that meteorological transport in response to SST changes is the key process causing air pollutant perturbations in most cases. During boreal summers, the increase in tropical SST over different ocean basins enhances deep convection, which significantly increases the air temperature over the upper troposphere and trigger large-scale subsidence over nearby and remote regions. These processes tend to increase tropospheric stability and suppress rainfall at lower mid-latitudes. Consequently, it reduces the vertical transport of O3 to the surface while facilitating the accumulation of PM2.5 concentrations over most regions. In addition, this regional SST warming may also considerably suppress intercontinental transport of air pollution as confirmed with idealized CO-like tracers. Our findings indicate a robust linkage between basin-scale SST variability and regional air quality, which can help local air quality management.

NASA Earth Observation Systems and Applications for Health and Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

Omar, Ali H.

2015-01-01

There is a growing body of evidence that the environment can affect human health in ways that are both complex and global in scope. To address some of these complexities, NASA maintains a diverse constellation of Earth observing research satellites, and sponsors research in developing satellite data applications across a wide spectrum of areas. These include environmental health; infectious disease; air quality standards, policies, and regulations; and the impact of climate change on health and air quality in a number of interrelated efforts. The Health and Air Quality Applications fosters the use of observations, modeling systems, forecast development, application integration, and the research to operations transition process to address environmental health effects. NASA has been a primary partner with Federal operational agencies over the past nine years in these areas. This talk presents the background of the Health and Air Quality Applications program, recent accomplishments, and a plan for the future.

Estimation of air quality by air pollution indices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liblik, Valdo; Kundel, Helmut

1999-01-01

A novel system for estimating the quality of atmospheric air in the over-ground air layer with the help of air pollution indices was developed. The method is based on a comparison of measured or calculated maximum short-term concentrations and average annual concentrations of pollutants with maximum permissible concentrations (with regard to human beings and vegetation). Special air quality estimation scales for residential areas and natural systems are presented. On the basis of the concentration of the substance under study zones of very high, high, rather high, moderate, low and very low air pollution were distinguished in the over-ground layer of the atmosphere. These are projected to land surface for landscape zonation. The application of the system of indices is demonstrated in the analysis of air quality for the towns of Kohtla-Jarve, Johvi and Kivioli (in 1997-1998). A comparative analysis of the air pollution zones distinguished on the basis of emissions and data from bio monitoring yielded satisfactory results. The system of air pollution indices developed enables to process the results of air monitoring in case of pollution fields of complicated composition so that the result for estimating the quality of ambient air in a residential area is easily understood by inhabitants and interpretable with the help of a special scale; analyse temporal changes in the quality of the air in towns, villages and other residential areas and use the results as basis for developing measures for reducing the pollution of ambient air; carry out zonation of large territories on the basis of air pollution levels (spatial air pollution zones are projected on the ground surface) and estimate air quality in places where air monitoring is lacking to forecast the possible effect of air pollution on natural systems (author)

Air Pollution Monitoring | Air Quality Planning & Standards ...

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-08

The basic mission of the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards is to preserve and improve the quality of our nation's air. To accomplish this, OAQPS must be able to evaluate the status of the atmosphere as compared to clean air standards and historical information.

Potential impact of a US climate policy and air quality regulations on future air quality and climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yunha; Shindell, Drew T.; Faluvegi, Greg; Pinder, Rob W.

2016-04-01

, while the global mean total RF is -0.06 W m-2 due to the dominant negative CO2 RF (instantaneous RF). To achieve a regional-scale climate benefit via a climate policy, it is critical (1) to have multinational efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and (2) to simultaneously target emission reduction of light-absorbing species (e.g., BC and O3) on top of long-lived species. The latter is very desirable as the resulting climate benefit occurs faster and provides co-benefits to air quality and public health.

Potential Impact of a US Climate Policy and Air Quality Regulations on Future Air Quality and Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Y. H.; Faluvegi, Gregory S.

2016-01-01

mean total RF is +C02 W m(sup -2) due to positive aerosol direct and indirect forcing, while the global mean total RF is -0.06 W m(sup -2) due to the dominant negative CO2 RF (instantaneous RF). To achieve a regional-scale climate benefit via a climate policy, it is critical (1) to have multinational efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and (2) to simultaneously target emission reduction of light-absorbing species (e.g., BC and O3) on top of long-lived species. The latter is very desirable as the resulting climate benefit occurs faster and provides cobenefits to air quality and public health.

GNAQPMS v1.1: accelerating the Global Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (GNAQPMS on Intel Xeon Phi processors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Wang

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The Global Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (GNAQPMS is the global version of the Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (NAQPMS, which is a multi-scale chemical transport model used for air quality forecast and atmospheric environmental research. In this study, we present the porting and optimisation of GNAQPMS on a second-generation Intel Xeon Phi processor, codenamed Knights Landing (KNL. Compared with the first-generation Xeon Phi coprocessor (codenamed Knights Corner, KNC, KNL has many new hardware features such as a bootable processor, high-performance in-package memory and ISA compatibility with Intel Xeon processors. In particular, we describe the five optimisations we applied to the key modules of GNAQPMS, including the CBM-Z gas-phase chemistry, advection, convection and wet deposition modules. These optimisations work well on both the KNL 7250 processor and the Intel Xeon E5-2697 V4 processor. They include (1 updating the pure Message Passing Interface (MPI parallel mode to the hybrid parallel mode with MPI and OpenMP in the emission, advection, convection and gas-phase chemistry modules; (2 fully employing the 512 bit wide vector processing units (VPUs on the KNL platform; (3 reducing unnecessary memory access to improve cache efficiency; (4 reducing the thread local storage (TLS in the CBM-Z gas-phase chemistry module to improve its OpenMP performance; and (5 changing the global communication from writing/reading interface files to MPI functions to improve the performance and the parallel scalability. These optimisations greatly improved the GNAQPMS performance. The same optimisations also work well for the Intel Xeon Broadwell processor, specifically E5-2697 v4. Compared with the baseline version of GNAQPMS, the optimised version was 3.51 × faster on KNL and 2.77 × faster on the CPU. Moreover, the optimised version ran at 26 % lower average power on KNL than on the CPU. With the combined

78 FR 63934 - Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; California; El Dorado County Air Quality Management...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-25

...] Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; California; El Dorado County Air Quality Management District... California for the El Dorado County Air Quality Management District (EDAQMD) portion of the California SIP... 24, 1987 Federal Register, May 25, 1988, U.S. EPA, Air Quality Management Division, Office of Air...

Transboundary health impacts of transported global air pollution and international trade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Qiang; Jiang, Xujia; Tong, Dan; Davis, Steven J.; Zhao, Hongyan; Geng, Guannan; Feng, Tong; Zheng, Bo; Lu, Zifeng; Streets, David G.; Ni, Ruijing; Brauer, Michael; van Donkelaar, Aaron; Martin, Randall V.; Huo, Hong; Liu, Zhu; Pan, Da; Kan, Haidong; Yan, Yingying; Lin, Jintai; He, Kebin; Guan, Dabo

2017-03-29

Millions of people die every year from diseases caused by exposure to outdoor air pollution1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Some studies have estimated premature mortality related to local sources of air pollution6, 7, but local air quality can also be affected by atmospheric transport of pollution from distant sources8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. International trade is contributing to the globalization of emission and pollution as a result of the production of goods (and their associated emissions) in one region for consumption in another region14, 19, 20, 21, 22. The effects of international trade on air pollutant emissions23, air quality14 and health24 have been investigated regionally, but a combined, global assessment of the health impacts related to international trade and the transport of atmospheric air pollution is lacking. Here we combine four global models to estimate premature mortality caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution as a result of atmospheric transport and the production and consumption of goods and services in different world regions. We find that, of the 3.45 million premature deaths related to PM2.5 pollution in 2007 worldwide, about 12 per cent (411,100 deaths) were related to air pollutants emitted in a region of the world other than that in which the death occurred, and about 22 per cent (762,400 deaths) were associated with goods and services produced in one region for consumption in another. For example, PM2.5 pollution produced in China in 2007 is linked to more than 64,800 premature deaths in regions other than China, including more than 3,100 premature deaths in western Europe and the USA; on the other hand, consumption in western Europe and the USA is linked to more than 108,600 premature deaths in China. Our results reveal that the transboundary health impacts of PM2.5 pollution associated with international trade are greater than those associated with long-distance atmospheric pollutant transport.

Determination and evaluation of air quality control. Manual of ambient air quality control in Germany

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lahmann, E.

1997-07-01

Measurement of air pollution emissions and ambient air quality are essential instruments for air quality control. By undertaking such measurements, pollutants are registered both at their place of origin and at the place where they may have an effect on people or the environment. Both types of measurement complement each other and are essential for the implementation of air quality legislation, particularly, in compliance with emission and ambient air quality limit values. Presented here are similar accounts of measurement principles and also contains as an Appendix a list of suitability-tested measuring devices which is based on information provided by the manufacturers. In addition, the guide of ambient air quality control contains further information on discontinuous measurement methods, on measurement planning and on the assessment of ambient air quality data. (orig./SR)

How Can Urban Policies Improve Air Quality and Help Mitigate Global Climate Change: a Systematic Mapping Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Slovic, Anne Dorothée; de Oliveira, Maria Aparecida; Biehl, João; Ribeiro, Helena

2016-02-01

Tackling climate change at the global level is central to a growing field of scientific research on topics such as environmental health, disease burden, and its resulting economic impacts. At the local level, cities constitute an important hub of atmospheric pollution due to the large amount of pollutants that they emit. As the world population shifts to urban centers, cities will increasingly concentrate more exposed populations. Yet, there is still significant progress to be made in understanding the contribution of urban pollutants other than CO2, such as vehicle emissions, to global climate change. It is therefore particularly important to study how local governments are managing urban air pollution. This paper presents an overview of local air pollution control policies and programs that aim to reduce air pollution levels in megacities. It also presents evidence measuring their efficacy. The paper argues that local air pollution policies are not only beneficial for cities but are also important for mitigating and adapting to global climate change. The results systematize several policy approaches used around the world and suggest the need for more in-depth cross-city studies with the potential to highlight best practices both locally and globally. Finally, it calls for the inclusion of a more human rights-based approach as a mean of guaranteeing of clean air for all and reducing factors that exacerbate climate change.

Air quality in Europe - 2011 report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guerreiro, C.; Larssen, S. (Norsk Inst. for Luftforskning (NILU), Lillestroem (Norway)); Leeuw, F. de (RIVM, Bilthoven (Netherlands)); Foltescu, V. (EEA, Copenhagen (Denmark))

2011-11-15

The annual report 'Air quality in Europe' summarises the most recent evaluation of Europe's air quality status. It is mainly based on air quality measurement data that have been made available officially by 32 EEA member countries as well as 6 EEA cooperating countries. The report includes maps and analyses of air quality status over the calendar year 2009. It also analyses air quality trends over the past years. The evaluation of the status and trends of air quality is based on ambient air measurements, in conjunction with reported anthropogenic emissions. The report summarizes the main effects of different air pollutants on human health, the environment and the climate. An overview of policies and measures at European level is also given for each pollutant. This report reviews progress towards meeting the requirements of the two air quality directives in force as well as the air quality guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The report is produced in support of European and national policy development and implementation in the field of air quality. It also supports air quality management and informs the general public on the current status and trends of air quality in Europe. (Author)

75 FR 65572 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; Ohio Ambient Air Quality...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-26

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; Ohio Ambient Air Quality Standards AGENCY... Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) relating to the consolidation of Ohio's Ambient Air Quality Standards... apply to Ohio's SIP. Incorporating the air quality standards into Ohio's SIP helps assure that...

Assessing urban air quality and its relation with radon (222Rn)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zoran, Maria; Savastru, Dan; Dida, Adrian

2016-01-01

This paper focuses on the assessment of air quality and its relation with radon ( 222 Rn) for Bucharest metropolitan area in Romania. Specifically, daily mean concentrations of particle matter (PM2.5, PM10), ozone (O 3 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) and global air quality indices have been analyzed in relation with radon ( 222 Rn) concentrations measured in the air near the ground with AlphaGUARD Radon Monitoring System and CR-39 SSNTDs during 2012 year. Such new information is required by atmospheric sciences to prove suitability of 222 Rn as a tracer for atmospheric dynamics analysis as well as by epidemiological and radiological protection studies. (author)

77 FR 73320 - Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; California; South Coast Air Quality Management...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-10

... Quality Implementation Plans; California; South Coast Air Quality Management District; Prevention of... Implementation Plan (SIP) revision for the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD or District... in a August 15, 2012 letter from the South Coast Air Quality Management District regarding specific...

Air movement and perceived air quality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Melikov, Arsen Krikor; Kaczmarczyk, J.

2012-01-01

The impact of air movement on perceived air quality (PAQ) and sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms was studied. In total, 124 human subjects participated in four series of experiments performed in climate chambers at different combinations of room air temperature (20, 23, 26 and 28 °C), relative...... and the humidity of the room air. At a low humidity level of 30% an increased velocity could compensate for the decrease in perceived air quality due to an elevated temperature ranging from 20 °C to 26 °C. In a room with 26 °C, increased air movement was also able to compensate for an increase in humidity from 30...... humidity (30, 40 and 70%) and pollution level (low and high). Most of the experiments were performed with and without facially applied airflow at elevated velocity. The importance of the use of recirculated room air and clean, cool and dry outdoor air was studied. The exposures ranged from 60. min to 235...

Transportation and air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roseland, M.

1992-01-01

In the greater Vancouver regional district (GVRD), some 80% of the annual production of 600,000 tonnes of air pollutants come from motor vehicles. Three critical air quality issues in the GVRD are discussed: local air pollution, ozone layer depletion, and greenhouse gas emissions, all of which are fundamentally linked to transportation. Overall air quality in the GVRD has been judged acceptable by current federal standards, but ground-level ozone has exceeded maximum tolerable levels at some locations and concentrations of suspended particulates are above maximum acceptable levels. Serious deterioration in air quality has been predicted unless a concerted effort is made to manage air quality on an airshed-wide basis. The GVRD is developing Canada's first Air Management Plan with the goal of halving atmospheric emissions by 2000. GVRD transportation priorities stress public transit, walking, cycling, car pooling, and reducing of travel demand; however, the viability of such strategies depends on decisions made outside the transportation sector. Restricted authority and jurisdiction also hinder GVRD goals; the regional level of government has no authority over highways or transit and only has authority for pollution control in some parts of the Fraser Valley. Airshed quality management, using the Los Angeles example, is seen as a possible direction for future GVRD policymaking in the transportation sector. A single regional planning agency with responsibility for transportation, land use, and air quality management appears as the best option for an integrated approach to solve multiple problems. 19 refs

76 FR 72097 - Air Quality Designations for the 2008 Lead (Pb) National Ambient Air Quality Standards

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-22

... Air Quality Designations for the 2008 Lead (Pb) National Ambient Air Quality Standards AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: This rule establishes air quality designations for most areas in the United States for the 2008 lead (Pb) National Ambient Air Quality Standards...

How Will Air Quality Change in South Asia by 2050?

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Rajesh; Barth, Mary C.; Pfister, G. G.; Delle Monache, L.; Lamarque, J. F.; Archer-Nicholls, S.; Tilmes, S.; Ghude, S. D.; Wiedinmyer, C.; Naja, M.; Walters, S.

2018-02-01

Exposure to unhealthy air causes millions of premature deaths and damages crops sufficient to feed a large portion of the South Asian population every year. However, little is known about how future air quality in South Asia will respond to changing human activities. Here we examine the combined effect of changes in climate and air pollutant emissions projected by the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 8.5 and RCP6.0 on air quality of South Asia in 2050 using a state-of-the-science Nested Regional Climate model with Chemistry (NRCM-Chem). RCP8.5 and RCP6.0 are selected to represent scenarios of highest and lowest air pollution in South Asia by 2050. NRCM-Chem shows the ability to capture observed key features of variability in meteorological parameters, ozone and related gases, and aerosols. NRCM-Chem results show that surface ozone and particulate matter of less than 2.5 μm in diameter will increase significantly by midcentury in South Asia under the RCP8.5 but remain similar to present day under RCP6.0. No RCP suggest an improvement in air pollution in South Asia by midcentury. Under RCP8.5, the frequency of air pollution events is predicted to increase by 20-120 days per year in 2050 compared to the present-day conditions, with particulate matter of less than 2.5 μm in diameter predicted to breach the World Health Organization ambient air quality guidelines on an almost daily basis in many parts of South Asia. These results indicate that while the RCP scenarios project a global improvement in air quality, they generally result in degrading air quality in South Asia.

Do Individual and Neighborhood Characteristics Influence Perceived Air Quality?

Science.gov (United States)

Deguen, Séverine; Padilla, Manon; Padilla, Cindy; Kihal-Talantikite, Wahida

2017-12-12

Background : Despite improvements, air pollution still remains a major public health issue. Numerous epidemiological studies have demonstrated the adverse health effects of air pollution exposure based on modeled measures, but only a few have considered the health impact of perceived air quality. Improving our knowledge of individual perceptions is crucial to defining targeted actions and promoting appropriate intervention measures. Our objective is to investigate the relationship between subjective and objective measures of air pollution and to focus on how individual characteristics combined with the neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation index, measured at a fine spatial scale, may or may not alter this relationship. Materials and Methods : The subjective measures of air quality reported by a sample of Lyon residents were collected via an individual questionnaire. The objective measures of air pollution were modeled by the local air quality monitoring network of the Rhône-Alpes region at census block level. We used a socioeconomic deprivation index to capture the different socioeconomic dimensions at census block level. The statistical analysis was structured in two steps: (1) identification of individual determinants of the subjective measures of air quality using multiple correspondence analysis followed by hierarchical clustering; (2) identification of individual and contextual characteristics that may alter the relationship between the objective and subjective measures of air pollution. Results : Among the youngest and the middle aged population (ages 30 to 59), consistent results between level of satisfaction, perceived air quality and objective measures of air pollution were found whatever the individual characteristics of the population. It is less clear among the oldest population: globally no significant difference between the NO₂ concentrations and the level of satisfaction was observed. Conclusion s : We found a significant relationship between the

78 FR 19990 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; Ohio Ambient Air Quality...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-03

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; Ohio Ambient Air Quality Standards; Correction AGENCY... approved revisions to Ohio regulations that consolidated air quality standards in a new chapter of rules... State's air quality standards into Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) 3745-25 and modifying an assortment of...

77 FR 12482 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Indiana; Lead Ambient Air Quality...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-01

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Indiana; Lead Ambient Air Quality Standards AGENCY... incorporates the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Pb promulgated by EPA in 2008. DATES: This... FR 66964) and codified at 40 CFR 50.16, ``National primary and secondary ambient air quality...

Potential impact of a US climate policy and air quality regulations on future air quality and climate change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Lee

2016-04-01

��W m−2 due to positive aerosol direct and indirect forcing, while the global mean total RF is −0.06 W m−2 due to the dominant negative CO2 RF (instantaneous RF. To achieve a regional-scale climate benefit via a climate policy, it is critical (1 to have multinational efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG emissions and (2 to simultaneously target emission reduction of light-absorbing species (e.g., BC and O3 on top of long-lived species. The latter is very desirable as the resulting climate benefit occurs faster and provides co-benefits to air quality and public health.

Ozone - Current Air Quality Index

Science.gov (United States)

GO! Local Air Quality Conditions Zip Code: State : My Current Location Current AQI Forecast AQI Loop More Maps AQI: Good (0 - 50) ... resources for Hawaii residents and visitors more announcements Air Quality Basics Air Quality Index | Ozone | Particle Pollution | Smoke ...

Exploring synergies between climate and air quality policies using long-term global and regional emission scenarios

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Braspenning Radu, Olivia; van den Berg, Maarten; Klimont, Zbigniew; Deetman, Sebastiaan; Janssens-Maenhout, Greet; Muntean, Marilena; Heyes, Chris; Dentener, Frank; van Vuuren, Detlef P.

Abstract In this paper, we present ten scenarios developed using the IMAGE2.4 framework (Integrated Model to Assess the Global Environment) to explore how different assumptions on future climate and air pollution policies influence emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants. These scenarios

The health benefits of attaining and strengthening air quality standards in Cape Town

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samantha Keen

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The link between pollution and poor health and mortality has been established globally. Developing countries carry most of the burden of ill health from air pollution, and urban centres like the City of Cape Town even more so. Effective air quality management to protect human health relies on the attainment of air quality standards. This study uses the Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP along with a locally derived exposure-response function and air quality monitor data to investigate whether the consistent attainment of current or more stringent air quality standards would avoid loss of life. The results show that attaining the PM10 24-hour mean South Africa National Standard limit and the PM10 and SO2 24-hour mean World Health Organisation guidelines in Cape Town reduces levels of pollutants and does reduce excess risk of mortality in Cape Town.

Air quality co-benefits of carbon pricing in China

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Mingwei; Zhang, Da; Li, Chiao-Ting; Mulvaney, Kathleen M.; Selin, Noelle E.; Karplus, Valerie J.

2018-05-01

Climate policies targeting energy-related CO2 emissions, which act on a global scale over long time horizons, can result in localized, near-term reductions in both air pollution and adverse human health impacts. Focusing on China, the largest energy-using and CO2-emitting nation, we develop a cross-scale modelling approach to quantify these air quality co-benefits, and compare them to the economic costs of climate policy. We simulate the effects of an illustrative climate policy, a price on CO2 emissions. In a policy scenario consistent with China's recent pledge to reach a peak in CO2 emissions by 2030, we project that national health co-benefits from improved air quality would partially or fully offset policy costs depending on chosen health valuation. Net health co-benefits are found to rise with increasing policy stringency.

Intercontinental Transport of Aerosols: Implication for Regional Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

Chin, Mian; Diehl, Thomas; Ginoux, Paul

2006-01-01

Aerosol particles, also known as PM2.5 (particle diameter less than 2.5 microns) and PM10 (particle diameter less than 10 microns), is one of the key atmospheric components that determine ambient air quality. Current US air quality standards for PM10 (particles with diameter air pollution problems, aerosols can be transported on a hemispheric or global scale. In this study, we use the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model to quantify contributions of long-range transport vs. local/regional pollution sources and from natural vs. anthropogenic sources to PM concentrations different regions. In particular, we estimate the hemispheric impact of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols and dust from major source areas on other regions in the world. The GOCART model results are compared with satellite remote sensing and ground-based network measurements of aerosol optical depth and concentrations.

Air quality indices : a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hewings, J.

2001-10-01

Pollution Probe presents some background information that will help in the development of a national Air Quality Index (AQI) in Canada. This report examines the issues that should be addressed in revising the national Index of the Quality of Air (IQUA) or creating a new national Air Quality Index. The IQUA was devised in 1976 and provides Canadians with real-time information on the state of community air quality by including major pollutants and their synergies. It is currently being used for air quality management plans and air quality alert systems. At the same time that the IQUA was devised, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) produced a parallel air quality index known as the Pollution Standard Index (PSI) which incorporated 5 criteria pollutants (particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and ground level ozone) for which national health-based standards were devised. In 1999, the US EPA renamed their index the Air Quality Index (AQI) and made revisions to the primary health-based national ambient air quality standards for ground-level ozone and particulate matter. Separate values for PM2.5 and PM10 were incorporated and mandatory reporting was required for metropolitan areas with populations of 350,000 or more. Similarly, the IQUA has undergone major developments that affect the validity of the index, including: rejection by the Working Group on Air Quality Objectives and Guidelines of the previous maximum desirable and maximum acceptable air quality criteria, recognition that standards for many of the contaminants are outdated, developing more sensitive instrumentation for real-time monitoring of contaminants. This report also describes the use of the national short term Air Quality Index by provincial, territorial and local authorities in Canada. Pollution Probe recommends setting up a mechanism to review and revise IQUA on a regular basis that would incorporate governments, the medical profession, special

Surface Flux Modeling for Air Quality Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Limei Ran

2011-08-01

Full Text Available For many gasses and aerosols, dry deposition is an important sink of atmospheric mass. Dry deposition fluxes are also important sources of pollutants to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The surface fluxes of some gases, such as ammonia, mercury, and certain volatile organic compounds, can be upward into the air as well as downward to the surface and therefore should be modeled as bi-directional fluxes. Model parameterizations of dry deposition in air quality models have been represented by simple electrical resistance analogs for almost 30 years. Uncertainties in surface flux modeling in global to mesoscale models are being slowly reduced as more field measurements provide constraints on parameterizations. However, at the same time, more chemical species are being added to surface flux models as air quality models are expanded to include more complex chemistry and are being applied to a wider array of environmental issues. Since surface flux measurements of many of these chemicals are still lacking, resistances are usually parameterized using simple scaling by water or lipid solubility and reactivity. Advances in recent years have included bi-directional flux algorithms that require a shift from pre-computation of deposition velocities to fully integrated surface flux calculations within air quality models. Improved modeling of the stomatal component of chemical surface fluxes has resulted from improved evapotranspiration modeling in land surface models and closer integration between meteorology and air quality models. Satellite-derived land use characterization and vegetation products and indices are improving model representation of spatial and temporal variations in surface flux processes. This review describes the current state of chemical dry deposition modeling, recent progress in bi-directional flux modeling, synergistic model development research with field measurements, and coupling with meteorological land surface models.

Air quality indicators from the Environmental Performance Index: potential use and limitations in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca M. Garland

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In responding to deteriorating air quality, many countries, including South Africa, have implemented national programmes that aim to manage and regulate ambient air quality, and the emissions of air pollutants. One aspect within these management strategies is effective communication to stakeholders, including the general public, with regard to the state and trend of ambient air quality in South Africa. Currently, information on ambient air quality is communicated through ambient mass concentration values, as well as number of exceedances of South African National Ambient Standards. However, these do not directly communicate the potential impact on human health and the ecosystem. To this end, the use of air quality indicators is seen as a potential way to achieve communication to stakeholders in a simplified, yet scientifically defensible manner. Air quality indicators and their source data from the Environmental Performance Index (EPI were interrogated to understand their potential use in South Africa. An assessment of four air quality indicators, together with their source data, showed improvements in air quality over the time period studied, though the input data do have uncertainties. The source data for the PM indicators, which came from a global dataset, underestimated the annual PM2.5 concentrations in the Highveld Priority Area and Vaal Triangle Airshed Priority Area over the time period studied (2009-2014 by ~3.7 times. This highlights a key limitation of national-scale indicators and input data, that while the data used by the EPI are a well-thought out estimate of a country’s air quality profile, they remain a generalised estimate. The assumptions and uncertainty inherent in such an ambitious global-wide attempt make the estimates inaccurate for countries without proper emissions tracking and accounting and few monitoring stations, such as South Africa. Thus, the inputs and resultant indicators should be used with caution until such

Integration of climate change considerations into local air quality management plans in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Thambiran, Tirusha

2007-10-01

Full Text Available & Technology, 39 (13) 4685-4691. Williams, M. and Chiotti, Q. (2006). Emerging Challenges and Opportunities in the Development of Clean Air Policy Strategies. NERAM Guidance Document on Air Quality Risk Management. NERAM V Colloquium Strategic Policy... Directions for Air Quality Risk Management (16-18 October, 2006). Available at: http://www.irr-neram.ca/Guidance%20Documents/GD_Chapt_5.pdf Date accessed 28 May 2007 Wuebbles, D.J. and Hayhoe, K. (2002). Atmospheric methane and global change. Earth...

Indoor Air Quality Manual.

Science.gov (United States)

Baldwin Union Free School District, NY.

This manual identifies ways to improve a school's indoor air quality (IAQ) and discusses practical actions that can be carried out by school staff in managing air quality. The manual includes discussions of the many sources contributing to school indoor air pollution and the preventive planning for each including renovation and repair work,…

Evaluation of the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) air temperature data products

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Lei; Senay, Gabriel B.; Verdin, James P.

2015-01-01

There is a high demand for agrohydrologic models to use gridded near-surface air temperature data as the model input for estimating regional and global water budgets and cycles. The Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) developed by combining simulation models with observations provides a long-term gridded meteorological dataset at the global scale. However, the GLDAS air temperature products have not been comprehensively evaluated, although the accuracy of the products was assessed in limited areas. In this study, the daily 0.25° resolution GLDAS air temperature data are compared with two reference datasets: 1) 1-km-resolution gridded Daymet data (2002 and 2010) for the conterminous United States and 2) global meteorological observations (2000–11) archived from the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN). The comparison of the GLDAS datasets with the GHCN datasets, including 13 511 weather stations, indicates a fairly high accuracy of the GLDAS data for daily temperature. The quality of the GLDAS air temperature data, however, is not always consistent in different regions of the world; for example, some areas in Africa and South America show relatively low accuracy. Spatial and temporal analyses reveal a high agreement between GLDAS and Daymet daily air temperature datasets, although spatial details in high mountainous areas are not sufficiently estimated by the GLDAS data. The evaluation of the GLDAS data demonstrates that the air temperature estimates are generally accurate, but caution should be taken when the data are used in mountainous areas or places with sparse weather stations.

Messing with paradise: Air quality and geothermal development in Hawaii

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, A.W.

1993-01-01

In the last decade, scientists and the media have publicized several significant air-quality-related issues facing our nation and threatening the Earth. Our need for energy is at the heart of many environmental problems. Most of us would not dispute that global issues are vitally important. However, to many of us, who have live one day at a time, global issues are often overshadowed by those at the microcosmic (i.e., regional or local) level. This paper focuses on a continuing problem citizens experienced by the resident of Hawaii: controversial air quality and health issues linked to geothermal resource development. In Hawaii, air quality degradation and related health issues have been associated with geothermal development on the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island. This paper begins with an overview of Hawaii's ambient air quality based on data collected by the State Department of Health (DOH). A chronology of geothermal resource development in Hawaii follows. The potential atmospheric contaminants from development of the Hawaiian resource are listed, and health effects of acute and chronic exposures are identified. Public controversy about geothermal development and the efforts of local and state agencies and officials to effectively control geothermal development in concert with protection of public health and safety use discussed, in particular the recent development and promulgation of a State of Hawaii H 2 S standard. This paper concludes with some suggestions for integrating the diverse interests of government, regulators, citizens, and geothermal developers in seeking to meet the energy and economic needs of Hawaii while carefully planning geothermal development in a safe and environmentally responsible manner

77 FR 12524 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Indiana; Lead Ambient Air Quality...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-01

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Indiana; Lead Ambient Air Quality Standards AGENCY... Indiana State Implementation Plan (SIP) for lead (Pb) under the Clean Air Act (CAA). This submittal incorporates the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Pb promulgated by EPA in 2008. DATES...

75 FR 65594 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; Ohio Ambient Air Quality...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-26

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; Ohio Ambient Air Quality Standards AGENCY... the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) relating to the consolidation of Ohio's Ambient Air Quality Standards (AAQS) into Ohio's State Implementation Plan (SIP) under the Clean Air Act. On April 8, 2009, and...

Allegheny County Air Quality

Data.gov (United States)

Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center — Air quality data from Allegheny County Health Department monitors throughout the county. Air quality monitored data must be verified by qualified individuals before...

Wildfire Impacts Upon US Air Quality for Current and Future Climate Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez Abraham, R.; Chung, S. H.; Lamb, B. K.; Tao, I.; Avise, J. C.; Stavros, E. N.; Strand, T. T.; McKenzie, D.; Guenther, A. B.; Wiedinmyer, C.; Duhl, T.; Salathe, E. P.; Zhang, Y.

2011-12-01

Wildfires can have an important impact on regional air quality as they are large and intermittent sources of primary particulates, secondary aerosols, and ozone precursors. As part of an ongoing analysis on the effects of global change upon US air quality, we report results for current and future decade simulations of the inter-relationship among climate change, wildfires and air quality. The results are reported for the Northwest, Southwest, and Central Rockies regions of the US. Meteorological fields from the ECHAM5 global climate model for the IPCC A1B scenario were downscaled using the Weather Research Forecast (WRF) model to drive the MEGAN biogenic emissions model, a stochastic fire occurrence model, Fire Simulation Builder (FSB), and the CMAQ chemical transport model to predict ozone and aerosol concentrations. Simulations were completed for two nested domains covering most of the northern hemisphere from eastern Asia to North America at 220 km horizontal resolution (hemispheric domain) and covering the continental US at 36 km resolution (CONUS). Sensitivity studies were conducted for representative summer periods with fire occurrence generated from FSB within the current (1995-2004) and future decade (2045-2054) and using current decade historical fire data obtained from the Bureau of Land Management Database. Results are reported in terms of the effects of global change upon fire occurrence, fire plume transport and PM and ozone pollutant levels.

Air Quality System (AQS)

Science.gov (United States)

The Air Quality System (AQS) database contains measurements of air pollutant concentrations from throughout the United States and its territories. The measurements include both criteria air pollutants and hazardous air pollutants.

Medium-Range Air Quality Forecast During the Beijing Olympic Games

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Y.; Smith, J.; Wang, Z.; Luo, L.; Wu, Q.

2008-12-01

Prior to the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, air quality was a major concern for many athletes and visitors to the Games. In response to the need for enhanced air quality forecasts, we explored and tested the capability of medium-range air quality forecasting in a multimodel ensemble system. The system consists of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Chemistry module (WRF-Chem), the Fifth-Generation NCAR/PennState Mesoscale Model (MM5), and the Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (NAQPMS) developed at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP). Both MM5 and NAQPMS have been in operational use to produce short-term air quality forecasts. WRFChem is the major addition to the multimodel system. Forced with the forecast from the NCEP Global Ensemble Forecast System (GENS) at the lateral boundary, the multimodel system makes ensemble air quality forecasts out to 16 days with emission scenarios that reflect measures for the Olympics, including the closing down of factories around the city and beyond, a traffic control program that reduced the number of automobiles around the city by about half and elimination of all construction activities. Analyses of two forecasts are presented in this study. They were made on 5 August 2008 and 8 August 2008, both covering the entire Olympic period. Each forecast consists of three ensemble members that were produced with the same regional model but were forced by the control and two 'extremes' of the GENS forecast. The two extreme members were hand-picked to represent the best and worst case scenarios. The forecasts are evaluated with observations taken during the Olympic Games that include satellite observations, in-situ meteorological stations, LIDAR and air quality observations at the IAP tower site, 1 km away from the 'Bird Nest'. The analyses show good model skill in the first 3 days and generally satisfactory after 96 hours, with a successful forecast of potential pollution episode on 20 August 2008. The challenge

Air Quality Guide for Ozone

Science.gov (United States)

GO! Local Air Quality Conditions Zip Code: State : My Current Location Air Quality Guide for Ozone Ground-level ozone is one of our nation’s most common air pollutants. Use the chart below to help reduce ...

Air Quality Assessment Using Interpolation Technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Awkash Kumar

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Air pollution is increasing rapidly in almost all cities around the world due to increase in population. Mumbai city in India is one of the mega cities where air quality is deteriorating at a very rapid rate. Air quality monitoring stations have been installed in the city to regulate air pollution control strategies to reduce the air pollution level. In this paper, air quality assessment has been carried out over the sample region using interpolation techniques. The technique Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW of Geographical Information System (GIS has been used to perform interpolation with the help of concentration data on air quality at three locations of Mumbai for the year 2008. The classification was done for the spatial and temporal variation in air quality levels for Mumbai region. The seasonal and annual variations of air quality levels for SO2, NOx and SPM (Suspended Particulate Matter have been focused in this study. Results show that SPM concentration always exceeded the permissible limit of National Ambient Air Quality Standard. Also, seasonal trends of pollutant SPM was low in monsoon due rain fall. The finding of this study will help to formulate control strategies for rational management of air pollution and can be used for many other regions.

Rural southeast Texas air quality measurements during the 2006 Texas Air Quality Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Schade, Gunnar W; Khan, Siraj; Park, Changhyoun; Boedeker, Ian

2011-10-01

The authors conducted air quality measurements of the criteria pollutants carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and ozone together with meteorological measurements at a park site southeast of College Station, TX, during the 2006 Texas Air Quality Study II (TexAQS). Ozone, a primary focus of the measurements, was above 80 ppb during 3 days and above 75 ppb during additional 8 days in summer 2006, suggestive of possible violations of the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) in this area. In concordance with other air quality measurements during the TexAQS II, elevated ozone mixing ratios coincided with northerly flows during days after cold front passages. Ozone background during these days was as high as 80 ppb, whereas southerly air flows generally provided for an ozone background lower than 40 ppb. Back trajectory analysis shows that local ozone mixing ratios can also be strongly affected by the Houston urban pollution plume, leading to late afternoon ozone increases of as high as 50 ppb above background under favorable transport conditions. The trajectory analysis also shows that ozone background increases steadily the longer a southern air mass resides over Texas after entering from the Gulf of Mexico. In light of these and other TexAQS findings, it appears that ozone air quality is affected throughout east Texas by both long-range and regional ozone transport, and that improvements therefore will require at least a regionally oriented instead of the current locally oriented ozone precursor reduction policies.

Air quality

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Thambiran, Tirusha

2017-12-01

Full Text Available ., Blaikie, P., Cannon, T. & Davis, I. 2004. At risk: Natural hazards, people’s vulnerability, and disasters (2nd edition). London: Routledge. Ziervogel, G. & Calder R. 2003. Climate variability and rural livelihoods: Assessing the impact of seasonal... Julia Mambo Kristy Faccer 4 | Global Change Global Change Global Change Global Change | i the quality of research being conducted in South Africa. In addition, South African academics occupy key positions in the Future Earth initiative...

Air Quality Management Process Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Air quality management are activities a regulatory authority undertakes to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of air pollution. The process of managing air quality can be illustrated as a cycle of inter-related elements.

Indoor Air Quality in the Metro System in North Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ying-Yi Chen

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Indoor air pollution is an increasing health concern, especially in enclosed environments such as underground subway stations because of increased global usage by urban populations. This study measured the indoor air quality of underground platforms at 10 metro stations of the Taipei Rapid Transit system (TRTS in Taiwan, including humidity, temperature, carbon monoxide (CO, carbon dioxide (CO2, formaldehyde (HCHO, total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs, ozone (O3, airborne particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5, bacteria and fungi. Results showed that the CO2, CO and HCHO levels met the stipulated standards as regulated by Taiwan’s Indoor Air Quality Management Act (TIAQMA. However, elevated PM10 and PM2.5 levels were measured at most stations. TVOCs and bacterial concentrations at some stations measured in summer were higher than the regulated standards stipulated by Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration. Further studies should be conducted to reduce particulate matters, TVOCs and bacteria in the air of subway stations.

Indoor Air Quality in the Metro System in North Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ying-Yi; Sung, Fung-Chang; Chen, Mei-Lien; Mao, I-Fang; Lu, Chung-Yen

2016-12-02

Indoor air pollution is an increasing health concern, especially in enclosed environments such as underground subway stations because of increased global usage by urban populations. This study measured the indoor air quality of underground platforms at 10 metro stations of the Taipei Rapid Transit system (TRTS) in Taiwan, including humidity, temperature, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), formaldehyde (HCHO), total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), ozone (O₃), airborne particulate matter (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ), bacteria and fungi. Results showed that the CO₂, CO and HCHO levels met the stipulated standards as regulated by Taiwan's Indoor Air Quality Management Act (TIAQMA). However, elevated PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels were measured at most stations. TVOCs and bacterial concentrations at some stations measured in summer were higher than the regulated standards stipulated by Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration. Further studies should be conducted to reduce particulate matters, TVOCs and bacteria in the air of subway stations.

Process air quality data

Science.gov (United States)

Butler, C. M.; Hogge, J. E.

1978-01-01

Air quality sampling was conducted. Data for air quality parameters, recorded on written forms, punched cards or magnetic tape, are available for 1972 through 1975. Computer software was developed to (1) calculate several daily statistical measures of location, (2) plot time histories of data or the calculated daily statistics, (3) calculate simple correlation coefficients, and (4) plot scatter diagrams. Computer software was developed for processing air quality data to include time series analysis and goodness of fit tests. Computer software was developed to (1) calculate a larger number of daily statistical measures of location, and a number of daily monthly and yearly measures of location, dispersion, skewness and kurtosis, (2) decompose the extended time series model and (3) perform some goodness of fit tests. The computer program is described, documented and illustrated by examples. Recommendations are made for continuation of the development of research on processing air quality data.

32 CFR 989.30 - Air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Air quality. 989.30 Section 989.30 National... ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ANALYSIS PROCESS (EIAP) § 989.30 Air quality. Section 176(c) of the Clean Air Act..., Air Quality Compliance. 10 10 See footnote 1 to § 989.1. ...

Air Quality Monitoring Programme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kemp, K.; Palmgren, F.

The air quality in Danish cities has been monitored continuously since 1982 within the Danish Air Quality (LMP) network. The aim has been to follow the concentration levels of toxic pollutants in the urban atmosphere and to provide the necessary knowledge to assess the trends, to perform source...... apportionment, and to evaluate the chemical reactions and the dispersion of the pollutants in the atmosphere. In 2002 the air quality was measured in four Danish cities and at two background sites. NO2 and PM10 were at several stations found in concentrations above the new EU limit values, which the Member...

Indoor air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1993-01-01

Indoor Air Quality is rapidly becoming a major environmental concern because a significant amount of people spend a substantial amount of time in a variety of different indoor environments. Health effects from indoor pollutants fall into two categories: those that are experienced immediately after exposure and those that do not show up until years later. They are: radon, formaldehyde, asbestos, lead and household organic chemicals. The authors presented a source-by-source look at the most common indoor air pollutants, their potential health effects, and ways to reduce their levels in the home. There are three basic strategies to improve indoor air quality: one method is source control, another is through ventilation improvements, and the third is the utilization of some sort of mechanical device such as air cleaners

Improving and monitoring air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

DuPont, André

2018-05-01

Since the authorization of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the air quality in the USA has significantly improved because of strong public support. The lessons learned over the last 25 years are being shared with the policy analysts, technical professionals, and scientist who endeavor to improve air quality in their communities. This paper will review how the USA has achieved the "high" standard of air quality that was envisioned in the early 1990s. This document will describe SO 2 gas emission reduction technology and highlight operation of emission monitoring technology. This paper describes the basic process operation of an air pollution control scrubber. A technical review of measures required to operate and maintain a large-scale pollution control system will be described. Also, the author explains how quality assurance procedures in performance of continuous emission monitoring plays a significant role in reducing air pollution.

78 FR 47191 - Air Quality Designations for the 2010 Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Primary National Ambient Air Quality...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-05

... Air Quality Designations for the 2010 Sulfur Dioxide (SO[bdi2]) Primary National Ambient Air Quality... air quality designations for certain areas in the United States for the 2010 primary Sulfur Dioxide (SO 2 ) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The EPA is issuing this rule to identify areas...

Toward the next generation of air quality monitoring: Persistent organic pollutants

Science.gov (United States)

Hung, Hayley; MacLeod, Matthew; Guardans, Ramon; Scheringer, Martin; Barra, Ricardo; Harner, Tom; Zhang, Gan

2013-12-01

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are global pollutants that can migrate over long distances and bioaccumulate through food webs, posing health risks to wildlife and humans. Multilateral environmental agreements, such as the Stockholm Convention on POPs, were enacted to identify POPs and establish the conditions to control their release, production and use. A Global Monitoring Plan was initiated under the Stockholm Convention calling for POP monitoring in air as a core medium; however long temporal trends (>10 years) of atmospheric POPs are only available at a few selected sites. Spatial coverage of air monitoring for POPs has recently significantly improved with the introduction and advancement of passive air samplers. Here, we review the status of air monitoring and modeling activities and note major uncertainties in data comparability, deficiencies of air monitoring and modeling in urban and alpine areas, and lack of emission inventories for most POPs. A vision for an internationally-integrated strategic monitoring plan is proposed which could provide consistent and comparable monitoring data for POPs supported and supplemented by global and regional transport models. Key recommendations include developing expertise in all aspects of air monitoring to ensure data comparability and consistency; partnering with existing air quality and meteorological networks to leverage synergies; facilitating data sharing with international data archives; and expanding spatial coverage with passive air samplers. Enhancing research on the stability of particle-bound chemicals is needed to assess exposure and deposition in urban areas, and to elucidate long-range transport. Conducting targeted measurement campaigns in specific source areas would enhance regional models which can be extrapolated to similar regions to estimate emissions. Ultimately, reverse-modeling combined with air measurements can be used to derive “emission” as an indicator to assess environmental

Air quality indicators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clench-Aas, Jocelyn; Guerreiro, Cristina; Bartonova, Alena

1999-06-01

This report proposes and describes in detail several air quality indicators that may be used to describe population exposure. The suggested indicators account for temporal and spatial patterns of pollution and movements of individuals between different micro-environments. The Air Quality Indicator /AQI) should represent both the spatial and temporal aspects of pollution exposure that may have important effects on health. Two indicators are needed, the Population Air Quality Indicator and the Individual Air Quality Indicator. Mean concentrations, 98th percentile and maximum values are the traditional indicators for estimating exposure. the temporal variability of PM-10 and NO 2 , however, is here described by means of: 1) The rate of change of pollution as the difference between two consecutive hourly values and of 2) episodes, described in terms of number, duration and winter episode period, maximum concentration in the episode and integrated episode exposure (episode AOT50/100). The spatial variation of AQIs can be described in several ways, e.g.: 1) Concentrations in neighbouring grid squares can be compared as an indication of spatial variation and 2) point estimates can be compared to grid values for a description of variation within a grid. Both methods are presented here. A test of the representativity of static point estimates for pollution exposure is to compare them to an estimate of air pollution exposure accounting for movements between different locations, obtained using diaries. The ultimate aim of AQIs is to describe the population exposure to ambient pollution. This is done by estimating the number of people exposed using different characteristics of AQIs. The data used to describe these indicators originates from dispersion modelling of short-term air pollution concentrations in Oslo. Two series of data are used. One represents hour-for hour concentrations in the 1 km 2 grid system covering the city of Oslo, winter 1994/95, calculated by the grid

Indoor air quality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Trine Susanne; Recevska, Ieva

 The objective of the 35th specific agreement is to provide support to the EEA activities in Environment and Health (E&H) on the topic of indoor air quality. The specific objectives have been to provide an overview of indoor air related projects in EU and indoor air related policies as well...... as idenfiying "good practices" to reduce health impact of indoor air exposure and suggest areas for future improvements....

Introduction to Indoor Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

... Offices Regional Offices Labs and Research Centers Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Contact Us Share Introduction to Indoor Air Quality Health Effects Primary Causes Identifying Problems Improving IAQ ...

Human-model hybrid Korean air quality forecasting system.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Lim-Seok; Cho, Ara; Park, Hyunju; Nam, Kipyo; Kim, Deokrae; Hong, Ji-Hyoung; Song, Chang-Keun

2016-09-01

The Korean national air quality forecasting system, consisting of the Weather Research and Forecasting, the Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions, and the Community Modeling and Analysis (CMAQ), commenced from August 31, 2013 with target pollutants of particulate matters (PM) and ozone. Factors contributing to PM forecasting accuracy include CMAQ inputs of meteorological field and emissions, forecasters' capacity, and inherent CMAQ limit. Four numerical experiments were conducted including two global meteorological inputs from the Global Forecast System (GFS) and the Unified Model (UM), two emissions from the Model Intercomparison Study Asia (MICS-Asia) and the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment (INTEX-B) for the Northeast Asia with Clear Air Policy Support System (CAPSS) for South Korea, and data assimilation of the Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC). Significant PM underpredictions by using both emissions were found for PM mass and major components (sulfate and organic carbon). CMAQ predicts PM2.5 much better than PM10 (NMB of PM2.5: -20~-25%, PM10: -43~-47%). Forecasters' error usually occurred at the next day of high PM event. Once CMAQ fails to predict high PM event the day before, forecasters are likely to dismiss the model predictions on the next day which turns out to be true. The best combination of CMAQ inputs is the set of UM global meteorological field, MICS-Asia and CAPSS 2010 emissions with the NMB of -12.3%, the RMSE of 16.6μ/m(3) and the R(2) of 0.68. By using MACC data as an initial and boundary condition, the performance skill of CMAQ would be improved, especially in the case of undefined coarse emission. A variety of methods such as ensemble and data assimilation are considered to improve further the accuracy of air quality forecasting, especially for high PM events to be comparable to for all cases. The growing utilization of the air quality forecast induced the public strongly to demand that the accuracy of the

Indoor Air Quality in Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Vincent M.

Asserting that the air quality inside schools is often worse than outdoor pollution, leading to various health complaints and loss of productivity, this paper details factors contributing to schools' indoor air quality. These include the design, operation, and maintenance of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems; building…

The global impact of ozone on agricultural crop yields under current and future air quality legislation

Science.gov (United States)

Van Dingenen, Rita; Dentener, Frank J.; Raes, Frank; Krol, Maarten C.; Emberson, Lisa; Cofala, Janusz

In this paper we evaluate the global impact of surface ozone on four types of agricultural crop. The study is based on modelled global hourly ozone fields for the year 2000 and 2030, using the global 1°×1° 2-way nested atmospheric chemical transport model (TM5). Projections for the year 2030 are based on the relatively optimistic "current legislation (CLE) scenario", i.e. assuming that currently approved air quality legislation will be fully implemented by the year 2030, without a further development of new abatement policies. For both runs, the relative yield loss due to ozone damage is evaluated based on two different indices (accumulated concentration above a 40 ppbV threshold and seasonal mean daytime ozone concentration respectively) on a global, regional and national scale. The cumulative metric appears to be far less robust than the seasonal mean, while the seasonal mean shows satisfactory agreement with measurements in Europe, the US, China and Southern India and South-East Asia. Present day global relative yield losses are estimated to range between 7% and 12% for wheat, between 6% and 16% for soybean, between 3% and 4% for rice, and between 3% and 5% for maize (range resulting from different metrics used). Taking into account possible biases in our assessment, introduced through the global application of "western" crop exposure-response functions, and through model performance in reproducing ozone-exposure metrics, our estimates may be considered as being conservative. Under the 2030 CLE scenario, the global situation is expected to deteriorate mainly for wheat (additional 2-6% loss globally) and rice (additional 1-2% loss globally). India, for which no mitigation measures have been assumed by 2030, accounts for 50% of these global increase in crop yield loss. On a regional-scale, significant reductions in crop losses by CLE-2030 are only predicted in Europe (soybean) and China (wheat). Translating these assumed yield losses into total global economic

77 FR 52277 - Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; California; South Coast Air Quality Management...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-29

... Quality Implementation Plans; California; South Coast Air Quality Management District; Prevention of... rule. SUMMARY: EPA is proposing approval of a permitting rule submitted for the South Coast Air Quality Management District (District) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). The State is...

Net radiative forcing and air quality responses to regional CO emission reductions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. M. Fry

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Carbon monoxide (CO emissions influence global and regional air quality and global climate change by affecting atmospheric oxidants and secondary species. We simulate the influence of halving anthropogenic CO emissions globally and individually from 10 regions on surface and tropospheric ozone, methane, and aerosol concentrations using a global chemical transport model (MOZART-4 for the year 2005. Net radiative forcing (RF is then estimated using the GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory standalone radiative transfer model. We estimate that halving global CO emissions decreases global annual average concentrations of surface ozone by 0.45 ppbv, tropospheric methane by 73 ppbv, and global annual net RF by 36.1 mW m−2, nearly equal to the sum of changes from the 10 regional reductions. Global annual net RF per unit change in emissions and the 100 yr global warming potential (GWP100 are estimated as −0.124 mW m−2 (Tg CO−1 and 1.34, respectively, for the global CO reduction, and ranging from −0.115 to −0.131 mW m−2 (Tg CO−1 and 1.26 to 1.44 across 10 regions, with the greatest sensitivities for regions in the tropics. The net RF distributions show widespread cooling corresponding to the O3 and CH4 decreases, and localized positive and negative net RFs due to changes in aerosols. The strongest annual net RF impacts occur within the tropics (28° S–28° N followed by the northern midlatitudes (28° N–60° N, independent of reduction region, while the greatest changes in surface CO and ozone concentrations occur within the reduction region. Some regional reductions strongly influence the air quality in other regions, such as East Asia, which has an impact on US surface ozone that is 93% of that from North America. Changes in the transport of CO and downwind ozone production clearly exceed the direct export of ozone from each reduction region. The small variation in CO GWPs among world regions suggests that future international

Indoor Air Quality in Chemistry Laboratories.

Science.gov (United States)

Hays, Steve M.

This paper presents air quality and ventilation data from an existing chemical laboratory facility and discusses the work practice changes implemented in response to deficiencies in ventilation. General methods for improving air quality in existing laboratories are presented and investigation techniques for characterizing air quality are…

Urban air quality management. V. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

This is the first in a series of reports commissioned by the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) to represent members' views on the management of urban air quality in the growing cities in developing countries. In this report, a general, science based framework is provided as a basis for understanding the nature of the problem in any specific urban area, the range of solutions that might be available, and the potential impact of each solution and its least cost privatisation. The topics covered are: a process for urban air quality management; setting air quality targets; a structured approach to the assessment of current and future air quality modelling methodologies; identification and collation of air quality model input data; development of socio-economic scenarios -long-term trend forecasting; cost effectiveness studies; the IPIECA approach to urban air quality management - development of partnerships; encouraging commitment to implementation of programme recommendations. (7 figures; 2 tables; 18 references). (UK)

Enhancing indoor air quality -The air filter advantage.

Science.gov (United States)

Vijayan, Vannan Kandi; Paramesh, Haralappa; Salvi, Sundeep Santosh; Dalal, Alpa Anil Kumar

2015-01-01

Air pollution has become the world's single biggest environmental health risk, linked to around 7 million deaths in 2012 according to a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report. The new data further reveals a stronger link between, indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure and cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischemic heart disease, as well as between air pollution and cancer. The role of air pollution in the development of respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, is well known. While both indoor and outdoor pollution affect health, recent statistics on the impact of household indoor pollutants (HAP) is alarming. The WHO factsheet on HAP and health states that 3.8 million premature deaths annually - including stroke, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer are attributed to exposure to household air pollution. Use of air cleaners and filters are one of the suggested strategies to improve indoor air quality. This review discusses the impact of air pollutants with special focus on indoor air pollutants and the benefits of air filters in improving indoor air quality.

Can air pollutant controls change global warming?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Strefler, Jessica; Luderer, Gunnar; Kriegler, Elmar; Meinshausen, Malte

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Air pollution policies do not affect long-term climate targets. • Reduction of aerosols counteracts a fraction of the reduction of Kyoto forcing. • Air pollution policies may affect the rate of climate change in the short term. • There is no tradeoff between clean air and climate policies. - Abstract: In this paper we analyze the interaction between climate and air pollution policies using the integrated assessment model REMIND coupled to the reduced-form climate model MAGICC. Since overall, aerosols tend to cool the atmosphere, there is a concern that a reduction of pollutant emissions could accelerate global warming and offset the climate benefits of carbon dioxide emission reductions. We investigate scenarios which independently reduce emissions from either large-scale sources, such as power plants, or small-scale sources, such as cooking and heating stoves. Large-scale sources are likely to be easier to control, but their aerosol emissions are characterized by a relatively high sulfur content, which tends to result in atmospheric cooling. Pollution from small-scale sources, by contrast, is characterized by a high share of carbonaceous aerosol, which is an important contributor to global warming. We find that air pollution policies can significantly reduce aerosol emissions when no climate policies are in place. Stringent climate policies lead to a large reduction of fossil fuel use, and therefore result in a concurrent reduction of air pollutant emissions. These reductions partly reduce aerosol masking, thus initially counteracting the reduction of greenhouse gas forcing, however not overcompensating it. If climate policies are in place, air pollution policies have almost no impacts on medium- and long-term radiative forcing. Therefore there is no conflict of objectives between clean air and limiting global warming. We find that the stringency of air pollution policies may influence the rate of global temperature change in the first decade

The Contribution from Shipping Emissions to Air Quality and Acid Deposition in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derwent, Richard G.; Stevenson, David S.; Doherty, Ruth M.; Cofala, Janusz; Mechler, Reinhard; Amann, Markus; Dentener, Frank J.

2005-01-01

A global three-dimensional Lagrangian chemistry-transport model STOCHEM is used to describe the European regional acid deposition and ozone air quality impacts along the Atlantic Ocean seaboard of Europe, from the SO 2 , NO x , VOCs and CO emissions from international shipping under conditions appropriate to the year 2000. Model-derived total sulfur deposition from international shipping reaches over 200 mg S m-2 yr-1 over the southwestern approaches to the British Isles and Brittany. The contribution from international shipping to surface ozone concentrations during the summertime, peaks at about 6 ppb over Ireland, Brittany and Portugal. Shipping emissions act as an external influence on acid deposition and ozone air quality within Europe and may require control actions in the future if strict deposition and air quality targets are to be met

Historical Ambient Air Quality Data Inventory

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Historical Ambient Air Quality Data Inventory contains measured and estimated data on ambient air pollution for use in assessing air quality, assisting in...

Air pollution and urban air quality management in Indonesia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santosa, Sri J. [Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta (Indonesia); Okuda, Tomoaki; Tanaka, Shigeru [Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama (Japan)

2008-06-15

The trade-led industry and economic development after the Asian financial crisis a decade ago has been accelerated in Indonesia to improve the quality of life of its population. This rapid development of Indonesia was in fact heavily fueled by fossil fuels, especially oil, followed by natural gas and coal. The exploitation of fossil fuel in fueling the development resulted in significant environmental quality degradation. Air pollution is perhaps Indonesia's most severe environmental problem. Industry and transportation were the typical main sources of urban air pollutants. Moreover, Indonesia also failed to reach its original 2005 target for a complete phase-out of leaded gasoline. As a result, the level of Pb together with other pollutants such as CO, NO{sub x}, SO{sub 2}, and total suspended particulates has exceeded or at least approached the designated ambient air quality standards. The urban air pollution will not be lesser in extent, but surely will be more severe in the future. Unfortunately, the capability of the Indonesian authorities to manage the urban air quality is still very limited and the portion of the budget allocated to the improvement of urban air quality is still remarkably low, typically 1% of total. This is why the efforts to enhance the capability to manage the urban air quality could not be handled by the environmental authorities in Indonesia's cities themselves, but outside stimulation in the form of man power, consultant and equipment assistance along with financial support has been very important. (Abstract Copyright [2008], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

U.S. ozone air quality under changing climate and anthropogenic emissions.

Science.gov (United States)

Racherla, Pavan N; Adams, Peter J

2009-02-01

We examined future ozone (O3) air quality in the United States (U.S.) under changing climate and anthropogenic emissions worldwide by performing global climate-chemistry simulations, utilizing various combinations of present (1990s) and future (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 2050s) climates, and present and future (2050s; IPCC SRES A2 and B1) anthropogenic emissions. The A2 climate scenario is employed here because it lies at the upper extreme of projected climate change for the 21st century. To examine the sensitivity of U.S. O3 to regional emissions increases (decreases), the IPCC SRES A2 and B1 scenarios, which have overall higher and lower O3-precursor emissions for the U.S., respectively, have been chosen. We find that climate change, by itself, significantly worsens the severity and frequency of high-O3 events ("episodes") over most locations in the U.S., with relatively small changes in average O3 air quality. These high-O3 increases due to climate change alone will erode moderately the gains made under a U.S. emissions reduction scenario (e.g., B1). The effect of climate change on high- and average-O3 increases with anthropogenic emissions. Insofar as average O3 air quality is concerned, changes in U.S. anthropogenic emissions will play the most important role in attaining (or not) near-term U.S. O3 air quality standards. However, policy makers must plan appropriately for O3 background increases due to projected increases in global CH4 abundance and non-U.S. anthropogenic emissions, as well as potential local enhancements that they could cause. These findings provide strong incentives for more-than-planned emissions reductions at locations that are currently O3-nonattainment.

Impact of wood burning on outdoor air quality: existing French data and current studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leoz-Garziandia, E.; Mandin, C.; Collet, S.; Besombes, J.L.; Pissot, N.; Allemand, N.; Riberon, J.; Jaffrezo, J.L.

2009-01-01

French source apportionment studies of air quality including the wood combustion source become widespread. Quantify a single source contribution to air quality requires to be provided with a specific measurable data to this source. For that reason, numerous studies have focused on the determination, in the atmospheric samples, of the source-specific compounds, usually called molecular tracers. Since 2000, trend works focused on the 'wood combustion' contribution to air quality have been based on the use of some tracers such as levoglucosan and metoxyphenols. Obtained results have been compared to atmospheric particles global characteristics: organic carbon (OC), elementary carbon (EC), PM 10 , PM 2.5 and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). The results presented in this article show not only the interest but also the limits of such an approach, as well as the need to develop and complete the current studies in order to quantify the different sources contribution to air quality. (author)

A New Era of Air Quality Monitoring from Space in East Asia: Korea's Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) and an Integrated Korea-US Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) Study

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, J.; Hong, Y.; Song, C. K.; Kim, S. K.; Chang, L. S.; Lim, J.; Ahn, J.; Park, J. H.; Kim, J. Y.; Han, Y. J.; Kim, J.; Park, R.; Lee, G.; Lefer, B. L.; Al-Saadi, J. A.; Crawford, J. H.

2015-12-01

Due to remarkable economic growth over the last two decades, East Asia has become a region experiencing some of the poorest air quality in the world. In addition to local sources of pollution, the Korea peninsula is downwind of the largest emission sources in East Asia, complicating the understanding of air quality over Korea. Thus, knowing the factors controlling changes in air pollution across urban-rural and marine-continental interfaces, in addition to the contributions from local emissions and transboundary transport, is important for building effective management strategies and improving air quality in East Asia. GEMS (Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer) is a satellite instrument planned for launch in 2019 by the Republic of Korea. The instrument will observe East Asia and the western Pacific region, providing real-time monitoring of air quality (e.g. O3, NO2, SO2, HCHO, AOD, etc.) and enabling better scientific understanding of the transboundary transport of air pollutants. The KORUS-AQ (the Korea and U.S. Air Quality) field campaign will take place in May - June 2016 and will employ an integrated observing strategy including multiplatform observations (i.e. ground stations, aircraft, ships, and satellites) and chemical transport models. This mission aims to not only strengthen our knowledge of atmospheric chemistry but also provide important data sets for validating GEMS retrieval algorithms. In preparation for KORUS-AQ, a pre-campaign has been successfully conducted in Korea during early summer 2015 with observations from multiple ground sites and a small aircraft. A brief summary of pre-field campaign results will be presented. Moving forward, the GEMS mission and KORUS-AQ study will lead to a new era of air quality monitoring in East Asia. GEMS will also make critical contributions to the global air quality perspective working in concert with geostationary missions launched by the U.S. (TEMPO: Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of

Modeling Effects of Climate Change on Air Quality and Population Exposure in Urban Planning Scenarios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lars Gidhagen

2012-01-01

Full Text Available We employ a nested system of global and regional climate models, linked to regional and urban air quality chemical transport models utilizing detailed inventories of present and future emissions, to study the relative impact of climate change and changing air pollutant emissions on air quality and population exposure in Stockholm, Sweden. We show that climate change only marginally affects air quality over the 20-year period studied. An exposure assessment reveals that the population of Stockholm can expect considerably lower NO2 exposure in the future, mainly due to reduced local NOx emissions. Ozone exposure will decrease only slightly, due to a combination of increased concentrations in the city centre and decreasing concentrations in the suburban areas. The increase in ozone concentration is a consequence of decreased local NOx emissions, which reduces the titration of the long-range transported ozone. Finally, we evaluate the consequences of a planned road transit project on future air quality in Stockholm. The construction of a very large bypass road (including one of the largest motorway road tunnels in Europe will only marginally influence total population exposure, this since the improved air quality in the city centre will be complemented by deteriorated air quality in suburban, residential areas.

Ambient air pollution and semen quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Nobles, Carrie J; Schisterman, Enrique F; Ha, Sandie; Kim, Keewan; Mumford, Sunni L; Buck Louis, Germaine M; Chen, Zhen; Liu, Danping; Sherman, Seth; Mendola, Pauline

2018-05-01

Ambient air pollution is associated with systemic increases in oxidative stress, to which sperm are particularly sensitive. Although decrements in semen quality represent a key mechanism for impaired fecundability, prior research has not established a clear association between air pollution and semen quality. To address this, we evaluated the association between ambient air pollution and semen quality among men with moderate air pollution exposure. Of 501 couples in the LIFE study, 467 male partners provided one or more semen samples. Average residential exposure to criteria air pollutants and fine particle constituents in the 72 days before ejaculation was estimated using modified Community Multiscale Air Quality models. Generalized estimating equation models estimated the association between air pollutants and semen quality parameters (volume, count, percent hypo-osmotic swollen, motility, sperm head, morphology and sperm chromatin parameters). Models adjusted for age, body mass index, smoking and season. Most associations between air pollutants and semen parameters were small. However, associations were observed for an interquartile increase in fine particulates ≤2.5 µm and decreased sperm head size, including -0.22 (95% CI -0.34, -0.11) µm 2 for area, -0.06 (95% CI -0.09, -0.03) µm for length and -0.09 (95% CI -0.19, -0.06) µm for perimeter. Fine particulates were also associated with 1.03 (95% CI 0.40, 1.66) greater percent sperm head with acrosome. Air pollution exposure was not associated with semen quality, except for sperm head parameters. Moderate levels of ambient air pollution may not be a major contributor to semen quality. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Biomass burning in Indo-China peninsula and its impacts on regional air quality and global climate change-a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Yadav, Ishwar Chandra; Linthoingambi Devi, Ningombam; Li, Jun; Syed, Jabir Hussain; Zhang, Gan; Watanabe, Hirozumi

2017-08-01

Although, many biomass burning (BB) emissions products (particulate matter and trace gases) are believed to be trans-boundary pollutants that originates from India and China (the two most populous countries in Asia), the information about BB emission and related contents is limited for Indo-China Peninsula (ICP) region. This motivated us to review this region pertaining to BB emission. The main objective of the review is to document the current status of BB emission in ICP region. In order to highlight the impact of BB on regional air quality and global climate change, the role of BB emission in ICP region is also discussed. Based on the available literature and modeling simulations studies, it is evidenced that ICP is one of the hotspot regional source for aerosols in terms of BB emissions. In addition, regional emissions through BB have significant implications for regional air quality especially in the neighboring countries such as China, Taiwan and India. Our assessment highlight that there is still a general lack of reliable data and research studies addressing BB related issues in context of environmental and human health. There is therefore a critical need to improve the current knowledge base, which should build upon the research experience and further research into these issues is considered vital to help inform future policies/control strategies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contribution of air conditioning adoption to future energy use under global warming

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Lucas W.; Gertler, Paul J.

2015-01-01

As household incomes rise around the world and global temperatures go up, the use of air conditioning is poised to increase dramatically. Air conditioning growth is expected to be particularly strong in middle-income countries, but direct empirical evidence is scarce. In this paper we use high-quality microdata from Mexico to describe the relationship between temperature, income, and air conditioning. We describe both how electricity consumption increases with temperature given current levels of air conditioning, and how climate and income drive air conditioning adoption decisions. We then combine these estimates with predicted end-of-century temperature changes to forecast future energy consumption. Under conservative assumptions about household income, our model predicts near-universal saturation of air conditioning in all warm areas within just a few decades. Temperature increases contribute to this surge in adoption, but income growth by itself explains most of the increase. What this will mean for electricity consumption and carbon dioxide emissions depends on the pace of technological change. Continued advances in energy efficiency or the development of new cooling technologies could reduce the energy consumption impacts. Similarly, growth in low-carbon electricity generation could mitigate the increases in carbon dioxide emissions. However, the paper illustrates the enormous potential impacts in this sector, highlighting the importance of future research on adaptation and underscoring the urgent need for global action on climate change. PMID:25918391

Contribution of air conditioning adoption to future energy use under global warming.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Lucas W; Gertler, Paul J

2015-05-12

As household incomes rise around the world and global temperatures go up, the use of air conditioning is poised to increase dramatically. Air conditioning growth is expected to be particularly strong in middle-income countries, but direct empirical evidence is scarce. In this paper we use high-quality microdata from Mexico to describe the relationship between temperature, income, and air conditioning. We describe both how electricity consumption increases with temperature given current levels of air conditioning, and how climate and income drive air conditioning adoption decisions. We then combine these estimates with predicted end-of-century temperature changes to forecast future energy consumption. Under conservative assumptions about household income, our model predicts near-universal saturation of air conditioning in all warm areas within just a few decades. Temperature increases contribute to this surge in adoption, but income growth by itself explains most of the increase. What this will mean for electricity consumption and carbon dioxide emissions depends on the pace of technological change. Continued advances in energy efficiency or the development of new cooling technologies could reduce the energy consumption impacts. Similarly, growth in low-carbon electricity generation could mitigate the increases in carbon dioxide emissions. However, the paper illustrates the enormous potential impacts in this sector, highlighting the importance of future research on adaptation and underscoring the urgent need for global action on climate change.

Future Air Quality in Danish Cities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, S. S.; Berkowicz, R.; Winther, M.

The impact of new EU vehicle emission and fuel quality directives on the future air quality in Danish cities has been modelled for comparison with new limit values in the new EU directive on assessment and management of urban air quality. Nested modelling was applied using a set of air quality...... and emission models to predict concentration levels in the regional background, urban background and at street level. Air pollution levels were predicted to decrease for NO2, CO and benzene (ozone increased slightly) and the results show that the levels will not exceed the new EU limit values in 2010 despite...

Air Quality System (AQS)

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Air Quality System (AQS) database contains measurements of air pollutant concentrations from throughout the United States and its territories. The measurements...

Mobile Air Quality Studies (MAQS-an international project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sudik Claudia

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Due to an increasing awareness of the potential hazardousness of air pollutants, new laws, rules and guidelines have recently been implemented globally. In this respect, numerous studies have addressed traffic-related exposure to particulate matter using stationary technology so far. By contrast, only few studies used the advanced technology of mobile exposure analysis. The Mobile Air Quality Study (MAQS addresses the issue of air pollutant exposure by combining advanced high-granularity spatial-temporal analysis with vehicle-mounted, person-mounted and roadside sensors. The MAQS-platform will be used by international collaborators in order 1 to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to road structure, 2 to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to traffic density, 3 to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to weather conditions, 4 to compare exposure within vehicles between front and back seat (children positions, and 5 to evaluate "traffic zone"-exposure in relation to non-"traffic zone"-exposure. Primarily, the MAQS-platform will focus on particulate matter. With the establishment of advanced mobile analysis tools, it is planed to extend the analysis to other pollutants including NO2, SO2, nanoparticles and ozone.

30 CFR 75.321 - Air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Air quality. 75.321 Section 75.321 Mineral... SAFETY STANDARDS-UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Ventilation § 75.321 Air quality. (a)(1) The air in areas where... air current in these areas shall be sufficient to dilute, render harmless, and carry away flammable...

Air quality in Europe - 2012 report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-09-15

This report presents an overview and analysis of the status and trends of air quality in Europe based on concentration measurements in ambient air and data on anthropogenic emissions and trends from 2001 - when mandatory monitoring of ambient air concentrations of selected pollutants first produced reliable air quality information - to 2010. (Author)

Air quality dispersion models from energy sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lazarevska, Ana

1996-01-01

Along with the continuing development of new air quality models that cover more complex problems, in the Clean Air Act, legislated by the US Congress, a consistency and standardization of air quality model applications were encouraged. As a result, the Guidelines on Air Quality Models were published, which are regularly reviewed by the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, EPA. These guidelines provide a basis for estimating the air quality concentrations used in accessing control strategies as well as defining emission limits. This paper presents a review and analysis of the recent versions of the models: Simple Terrain Stationary Source Model; Complex Terrain Dispersion Model; Ozone,Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Dioxide Models; Long Range Transport Model; Other phenomenon Models:Fugitive Dust/Fugitive Emissions, Particulate Matter, Lead, Air Pathway Analyses - Air Toxic as well as Hazardous Waste. 8 refs., 4 tabs., 2 ills

High Resolution Air Quality Forecasts in the Western Mediterranean area within the MACC, MACC-II and MACC-III European projects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cansado, A.; Martinez, I.; Morales, T.

2015-07-01

The European Earth observation programme Copernicus, formerly known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) is establishing a core global and regional environmental atmospheric service as a component of the Europes Copernicus/GMES initiative through successive R and D projects led by ECMWF (European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasting) and funded by the 6th and 7th European Framework Programme for Research and Horizon 2020 Programme: GEMS, MACC, MACC-II and MACC-III. AEMET (Spanish State Meteorological Agency) has participated in the projects MACC and MACC-II and continues participating in MACC-III (http://atmosphere.copernicus.eu). AEMET has contributed to those projects by generating highresolution (0.05 degrees) daily air-quality forecasts for the Western Mediterranean up to 48 hours aiming to analyse the dependence of the quality of forecasts on resolution. We monitor the evolution of different chemical species such as NO{sub 2}, O{sub 3}, CO y SO{sub 2} at surface and different vertical levels using the global model MOCAGE and the MACC Regional Ensemble forecasts as chemical boundary conditions. We will show different case-studies, where the considered chemical species present high values and will show a validation of the air-quality by comparing to some of the available air-quality observations (EMEP/GAW, regional -autonomous communities- and local -city councils- air-quality monitoring networks) over the forecast domain. The aim of our participation in these projects is helping to improve the understanding of the processes involved in the air-quality forecast in the Mediterranean where special factors such as highly populated areas together with an intense solar radiation make air-quality forecasting particularly challenging. (Author)

High Resolution Air Quality Forecasts in the Western Mediterranean area within the MACC, MACC-II and MACC-III European projects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cansado, A.; Martinez, I.; Morales, T.

2015-07-01

The European Earth observation programme Copernicus, formerly known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) is establishing a core global and regional environmental atmospheric service as a component of the Europe’s Copernicus/GMES initiative through successive R&D projects led by ECMWF (European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasting) and funded by the 6th and 7th European Framework Programme for Research and Horizon 2020 Programme: GEMS, MACC, MACC-II and MACC-III. AEMET (Spanish State Meteorological Agency) has participated in the projects MACC and MACC-II and continues participating in MACC-III (http://atmosphere.copernicus.eu). AEMET has contributed to those projects by generating highresolution (0.05 degrees) daily air-quality forecasts for the Western Mediterranean up to 48 hours aiming to analyse the dependence of the quality of forecasts on resolution. We monitor the evolution of different chemical species such as NO2, O3, CO y SO2 at surface and different vertical levels using the global model MOCAGE and the MACC Regional Ensemble forecasts as chemical boundary conditions. We will show different case-studies, where the considered chemical species present high values and will show a validation of the air-quality by comparing to some of the available air-quality observations (EMEP/GAW, regional -autonomous communities- and local -city councils- air-quality monitoring networks) over the forecast domain. The aim of our participation in these projects is helping to improve the understanding of the processes involved in the air-quality forecast in the Mediterranean where special factors such as highly populated areas together with an intense solar radiation make air-quality forecasting particularly challenging. (Author)

Climate and air quality trade-offs in altering ship fuel sulfur content

Science.gov (United States)

Partanen, A.-I.; Laakso, A.; Schmidt, A.; Kokkola, H.; Kuokkanen, T.; Pietikäinen, J.-P.; Kerminen, V.-M.; Lehtinen, K. E. J.; Laakso, L.; Korhonen, H.

2013-08-01

Aerosol particles from shipping emissions both cool the climate and cause adverse health effects. The cooling effect is, however, declining because of shipping emission controls aiming to improve air quality. We used an aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAMMOZ to test whether by altering ship fuel sulfur content, the present-day aerosol-induced cooling effect from shipping could be preserved while at the same time reducing premature mortality rates related to shipping emissions. We compared the climate and health effects of a present-day shipping emission scenario with (1) a simulation with strict emission controls in the coastal waters (ship fuel sulfur content of 0.1%) and twofold ship fuel sulfur content compared to current global average of 2.7% elsewhere; and (2) a scenario with global strict shipping emission controls (ship fuel sulfur content of 0.1% in coastal waters and 0.5% elsewhere) roughly corresponding to international agreements to be enforced by the year 2020. Scenario 1 had a slightly stronger aerosol-induced radiative flux perturbation (RFP) from shipping than the present-day scenario (-0.43 W m-2 vs. -0.39 W m-2) while reducing premature mortality from shipping by 69% (globally 34 900 deaths avoided per year). Scenario 2 decreased the RFP to -0.06 W m-2 and annual deaths by 96% (globally 48 200 deaths avoided per year) compared to present-day. A small difference in radiative effect (global mean of 0.04 W m-2) in the coastal regions between Scenario 1 and the present-day scenario imply that shipping emission regulation in the existing emission control areas should not be removed in hope of climate cooling. Our results show that the cooling effect of present-day emissions could be retained with simultaneous notable improvements in air quality, even though the shipping emissions from the open ocean clearly have a significant effect on continental air quality. However, increasing ship fuel sulfur content in the open ocean would violate existing

ASPECTS REGARDING AIR QUALITY IN DEVA AREA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CARMEN DRAGOTA

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Aspects regarding air quality in Deva area. The attenuation of air quality in the urban environment is determined by artificial warming, a result of the radiation emitted by constructions, economic activities, as well as the climatic elements characteristics. In the survey regarding air quality in Deva we will analyse the concentrations of NO2, O3, SO2 and their implications on air quality.

CityAir app: Mapping air-quality perception using people as sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Castell, Nuria; Fredriksen, Mirjam; Cole-Hunter, Thomas; Robinson, Johanna; Keune, Hans; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark; Bartonova, Alena

2016-04-01

Outdoor air pollution is a major environmental health problem affecting all people in developed and developing countries alike. Ambient (outdoor) air pollution in both cities and rural areas was estimated to cause 3.7 million premature deaths worldwide in 2012. In modern society, people are expending an increasing amount of time in polluted urban environments, thus increasing their exposure and associated health responses. Some cities provide information about air pollution levels to their citizens using air quality monitoring networks. However, due to their high cost and maintenance, the density of the monitoring networks is very low and not capable to capture the high temporal and spatial variability of air pollution. Thus, the citizen lacks a specific answer to the question of "how the air quality is in our surroundings". In the framework of the EU-funded CITI-SENSE project the innovative concept of People as Sensors is being applied to the field of outdoor air pollution. This is being done in eight European cities, including Barcelona, Belgrade, Edinburgh, Haifa, Ljubljana, Oslo, Ostrava and Vienna. People as Sensors defines a measurement model, in which measurements are not only taken by hardware sensors, but in which also humans can contribute with their individual "measurements" such as their subjective perception of air quality and other personal observations. In order to collect the personal observations a mobile app, CityAir, has been developed. CityAir allows citizens to rate the air quality in their surroundings with colour at their current location: green if air quality is very good, yellow if air quality is good, orange if air quality is poor and red if air quality is very poor. The users have also the possibility of indicating the source of pollution (i.e. traffic, industry, wood burning) and writing a comment. The information is on-line and accessible for other app users, thus contributing to create an air-quality map based on citizens' perception

Indoor air quality in a multifamily apartment building before and after energy renovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bekö, Gabriel; Földváry, Veronika; Langer, Sarka

2016-01-01

Buildings are responsible for a substantial portion of global energy consumption. Most of the multifamily residential buildings in central Europe built in the 20th century do not satisfy the current requirements on energy efficiency. Nationwide remedial measures are taken to improve the energy ef...... exchange rates and acceptable and healthy IAQ. Without these considerations, energy reconstruction can adversely affect the quality of the indoor environment....... efficiency of these buildings and reduce their energy consumption. Since the impact of these measures on the indoor air quality is rarely considered, they often compromise indoor air quality due to decreased ventilation and infiltration rate. We compared the indoor air quality in a multifamily apartment...... building in Slovakia before and after energy renovation, during two subsequent winters. Measurements of temperature, relative humidity, concentrations of CO2, formaldehyde, NO2, and volatile organic compounds were performed during one week in January 2015 in 20 apartments in one multifamily building...

The AirQuality SenseBox

Science.gov (United States)

Demuth, Dustin; Nuest, Daniel; Bröring, Arne; Pebesma, Edzer

2013-04-01

In the past year, a group of open hardware enthusiasts and citizen scientists had large success in the crowd-funding of an open hardware-based sensor platform for air quality monitoring, called the Air Quality Egg. Via the kickstarter platform, the group was able to collect triple the amount of money than needed to fulfill their goals. Data generated by the Air Quality Egg is pushed to the data logging platform cosm.com, which makes the devices a part of the Internet of Things. The project aims at increasing the participation of citizens in the collection of data, the development of sensors, the operation of sensor stations, and, as data on cosm is publicly available, the sharing, visualization and analysis of data. Air Quality Eggs can measure NO2 and CO concentrations, as well as relative humidity and temperature. The chosen sensors are low-cost and have limited precision and accurracy. The Air Quality Egg consists of a stationary outdoor and a stationary indoor unit. Each outdoor unit will wirelessly transmit air quality measurements to the indoor unit, which forwards the data to cosm. Most recent versions of the Air Quality Egg allow a rough calibration of the gas sensors and on-the-fly conversion from raw sensor readings (impedance) to meaningful air quality data expressed in units of parts per billion. Data generated by these low-cost platforms are not intended to replace well-calibrated official monitoring stations, but rather augment the density of the total monitoring network with citizen sensors. To improve the usability of the Air Quality Egg, we present a new and more advanced concept, called the AirQuality SenseBox. We made the outdoor platform more autonomous and location-aware by adding solarpanels and rechargeable batteries as a power source. The AirQuality SenseBox knows its own position from a GPS device attached to the platform. As a mobile sensor platform, it can for instance be attached to vehicles. A low-cost and low-power wireless chipset

77 FR 12673 - Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; California; South Coast; Attainment Plan for 1997 8...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-01

..., Douglas Ito, Chief, Air Quality and Transportation Planning Branch; California Air Resources Board... District determine compliance with the ``global commitment'' target, thus leaving them in a situation faced... plans, after consultation with the operators adopt ridership increase target for 1983-1987. Emission...

DataFed: A Federated Data System for Visualization and Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Air Quality Data

Science.gov (United States)

Husar, R. B.; Hoijarvi, K.

2017-12-01

DataFed is a distributed web-services-based computing environment for accessing, processing, and visualizing atmospheric data in support of air quality science and management. The flexible, adaptive environment facilitates the access and flow of atmospheric data from provider to users by enabling the creation of user-driven data processing/visualization applications. DataFed `wrapper' components, non-intrusively wrap heterogeneous, distributed datasets for access by standards-based GIS web services. The mediator components (also web services) map the heterogeneous data into a spatio-temporal data model. Chained web services provide homogeneous data views (e.g., geospatial, time views) using a global multi-dimensional data model. In addition to data access and rendering, the data processing component services can be programmed for filtering, aggregation, and fusion of multidimensional data. A complete application software is written in a custom made data flow language. Currently, the federated data pool consists of over 50 datasets originating from globally distributed data providers delivering surface-based air quality measurements, satellite observations, emissions data as well as regional and global-scale air quality models. The web browser-based user interface allows point and click navigation and browsing the XYZT multi-dimensional data space. The key applications of DataFed are for exploring spatial pattern of pollutants, seasonal, weekly, diurnal cycles and frequency distributions for exploratory air quality research. Since 2008, DataFed has been used to support EPA in the implementation of the Exceptional Event Rule. The data system is also used at universities in the US, Europe and Asia.

Future Global Mortality from Changes in Air Pollution Attributable to Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Raquel A.; West, J. Jason; Lamarque, Jean-Francois; Shindell, Drew T.; Collins, William J.; Faluvegi, Greg; Folberth, Gerd A.; Horowitz, Larry W.; Nagashima, Tatsuya; Naik, Vaishali;

Air transport and tourism of Montenegro in terms of global recession

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radulović Ljiljana

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Today's dynamic environment can be characterized as unstable and unpredictable, which significantly affects the development of tourism and the flow of air traffic management which is why the tourism industry should be understood as a process based on continuous research, analysis and understanding of the interactions between the identified changes. Starting from the geographical position and strategic documents on Transport and Tourism, Montenegro is positioned as a air traffic destination whose success in the tourism market is conditioned by the willingness and ability of the holder of the tourist and transport policy pursuant to the challenges of today's approaches to planning and precisely define the development goals and courses of action. Based on the above and due recognition of the economic crisis as the challenges that face our country emphasized the need to analyze the effects of the global economic crisis on the performance of air traffic and future development of tourism in Montenegro. With the intention of the comprehensive observation of the current situation, this paper will present quantitative data from the previous period with the development of air traffic forecasts, organized under the development of Montenegrin tourism. In this way we want the consequences of the global economic crisis displayed as a serious threat to the development of air traffic and tourism in Montenegro, with the ultimate aim of highlighting the importance of establishing high-quality air traffic as part of an integrated approach to tourism development of our country that can achieve a certain degree of resistance to contemporary challenges.

Assessment of air quality benefits from national air pollution control policies in China. Part II: Evaluation of air quality predictions and air quality benefits assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Litao; Jang, Carey; Zhang, Yang; Wang, Kai; Zhang, Qiang; Streets, David; Fu, Joshua; Lei, Yu; Schreifels, Jeremy; He, Kebin; Hao, Jiming; Lam, Yun-Fat; Lin, Jerry; Meskhidze, Nicholas; Voorhees, Scott; Evarts, Dale; Phillips, Sharon

2010-09-01

Following the meteorological evaluation in Part I, this Part II paper presents the statistical evaluation of air quality predictions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA)'s Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (Models-3/CMAQ) model for the four simulated months in the base year 2005. The surface predictions were evaluated using the Air Pollution Index (API) data published by the China Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) for 31 capital cities and daily fine particulate matter (PM 2.5, particles with aerodiameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm) observations of an individual site in Tsinghua University (THU). To overcome the shortage in surface observations, satellite data are used to assess the column predictions including tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) column abundance and aerosol optical depth (AOD). The result shows that CMAQ gives reasonably good predictions for the air quality. The air quality improvement that would result from the targeted sulfur dioxide (SO 2) and nitrogen oxides (NO x) emission controls in China were assessed for the objective year 2010. The results show that the emission controls can lead to significant air quality benefits. SO 2 concentrations in highly polluted areas of East China in 2010 are estimated to be decreased by 30-60% compared to the levels in the 2010 Business-As-Usual (BAU) case. The annual PM 2.5 can also decline by 3-15 μg m -3 (4-25%) due to the lower SO 2 and sulfate concentrations. If similar controls are implemented for NO x emissions, NO x concentrations are estimated to decrease by 30-60% as compared with the 2010 BAU scenario. The annual mean PM 2.5 concentrations will also decline by 2-14 μg m -3 (3-12%). In addition, the number of ozone (O 3) non-attainment areas in the northern China is projected to be much lower, with the maximum 1-h average O 3 concentrations in the summer reduced by 8-30 ppb.

Agriculture: Agriculture and Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

Information on air emissions from agricultural practices, types of agricultural burning, air programs that may apply to agriculture, reporting requirements, and links to state and other federal air-quality information.

European air quality in the 2030's and 2050's: Impacts of global and regional emission trends and of climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lacressonniere, G.; Peuch, V.H.; Vautard, R.

2014-01-01

A chemistry-transport model using two-way nested regional (Europe) and global domains is used to evaluate the effects of climate and emission changes on air quality over Europe for the 2030's and 2050's, by comparison with the emissions and climate of the recent past. We investigated the pollutant levels under the implementations of reduced anthropogenic emissions (NOx, SO 2 , etc) over Europe and, at the global scale, under the Representative Concentrations Pathways (RCP8.5) scenario produced by the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of IPCC. The simulations show an increase in surface ozone in northwestern Europe and a decrease in southern areas in the future horizons studied here. Over Europe, average O 3 levels steadily increase with a rate of around 3 mg m 3 per decade in summer. For this pollutant, the contributions of long range transport over the Northern Hemisphere and climate changes have been assessed and appear to counterbalance and even slightly outweigh the effects of European reductions in precursors' anthropogenic emissions. The tropospheric ozone budget is found to be dominated by enhanced stratosphere-troposphere exchanges in future climate while the chemical budget is significantly reduced. Our results show that a NOx-limited chemical regime will stretch over most of Europe, including especially Western France in the future. These findings allow supporting efficient future precursor emissions abatement strategies in order to limit O 3 pollution and maintain or improve air quality standards in Europe. (authors)

Alberta's air quality index : facts at your fingertip

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-06-01

Alberta Environment measures the airborne concentrations of carbon dioxide, fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and sulphur dioxide on a continuous basis at air quality monitoring stations in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer and Beaverlodge. Every hour, the readings are converted to an Air Quality Index (AQI) number to report on Alberta's outdoor air quality as either good, fair, poor or very poor. The categories relate to guidelines under Alberta's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and reflect the maximum acceptable levels specified by the National Ambient Air Quality Objectives. Current air quality conditions are available to the public through Alberta Environment's web site or by phoning a toll free number. Both Edmonton and Calgary report good air quality at least 90 per cent of the time. Occasionally, air quality in the two cities may reach the fair category, but it is seldom poor. Fair, poor or very poor air quality occurs with strong temperature inversion and light winds. Under these conditions, air pollutants, usually from automobiles, are trapped in a layer of stagnant air. Fair and poor air quality can also be caused by summer heat when photochemical smog forms by chemical reactions with oxides of nitrogen and volatile hydrocarbons. 1 ref., 1 tab., 1 fig

Representativeness of air quality monitoring networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duyzer, J.; Hout, D. van den; Zandveld, P.; Ratingen, S. van

2015-01-01

The suitability of European networks to check compliance with air quality standards and to assess exposure of the population was investigated. An air quality model (URBIS) was applied to estimate and compare the spatial distribution of the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in ambient air in

Air quality management in Botswana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Modupe O. Akinola

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This paper examines air pollution situation and the history of air quality management in Botswana. The current air quality management in Botswana is still largely underpinned by the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act of 1971, supplemented by the more recently enacted legislations such as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA Act of 2010 and the Ambient Air Quality - Limits for Common Pollutants of 2012 published by the Botswana Bureau of Standards. Though commendable efforts have been made toward legislating against air and other forms of pollution, these have not yielded expected results in view of the prevailing levels of air pollutants like sulphur dioxide and fine particulate matters in the country’s atmospheric environment. Legislation as a sole measure may not be effective in tackling this challenge. Rather, government should also address some root-causes of the problem by making policies and programmes that will reduce unemployment and increase the earning capacity of citizenry. This will, among other things, effectively check poverty-induced biomass burning in the country. The paper looks at some other challenges of air pollution management and suggestions are made to tackle the identified problems.

EDITORIAL: Global impacts of particulate matter air pollution

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, Michelle L.; Holloway, Tracey

2007-10-01

sulfate aerosol exposure (both domestically and on downwind continents), while presenting a new metric to quantify the impact of distance on health-relevant exposure: the 'influence potential'. Extending the scope of aerosol impacts from health to climate, Bond outlines the barriers to including aerosols in climate agreements, and proposes solutions to facilitate the integration of this key climate species in a policy context. Together, the articles scope out the state-of-the-science with respect to key issues in international air pollution. All four studies advance understanding the human health implications of air pollution, by drawing from worldwide data sources and considering a global perspective on key processes and impacts. To extend exposure estimates, like those of van Vliet and Kinney or Liu and Mauzerall, and to evaluate the induced physiological response of PM exposure, typically existing dose response relationships are applied. Unfortunately, the common practice of applying health response estimates from one location to another is problematic. In addition to potential differences in the chemical composition of particles, the underlying populations may differ with respect to their baseline health status, occupational exposures, age and gender distribution, and behavioral factors such as nutrition and smoking habits. Health response to a given stressor is affected by the quality of and access to health care, which varies widely, and can be almost non-existent in some regions of developing countries. Further, exposure to ambient PM is affected by the relative fraction of time spent in different settings (e.g., work, home, outside, in transit), the activities that affect ventilation rate (e.g., exercising heavily versus sitting still), and housing characteristics that alter the penetration of outdoor particles into indoor environments (e.g., housing materials, windows, air conditioning). To make the most of exposure estimates, the 'missing link' is the

Using Intel's Knight Landing Processor to Accelerate Global Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System (GNAQPMS) Model

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, H.; Chen, H.; Chen, X.; Wu, Q.; Wang, Z.

2016-12-01

The Global Nested Air Quality Prediction Modeling System for Hg (GNAQPMS-Hg) is a global chemical transport model coupled Hg transport module to investigate the mercury pollution. In this study, we present our work of transplanting the GNAQPMS model on Intel Xeon Phi processor, Knights Landing (KNL) to accelerate the model. KNL is the second-generation product adopting Many Integrated Core Architecture (MIC) architecture. Compared with the first generation Knight Corner (KNC), KNL has more new hardware features, that it can be used as unique processor as well as coprocessor with other CPU. According to the Vtune tool, the high overhead modules in GNAQPMS model have been addressed, including CBMZ gas chemistry, advection and convection module, and wet deposition module. These high overhead modules were accelerated by optimizing code and using new techniques of KNL. The following optimized measures was done: 1) Changing the pure MPI parallel mode to hybrid parallel mode with MPI and OpenMP; 2.Vectorizing the code to using the 512-bit wide vector computation unit. 3. Reducing unnecessary memory access and calculation. 4. Reducing Thread Local Storage (TLS) for common variables with each OpenMP thread in CBMZ. 5. Changing the way of global communication from files writing and reading to MPI functions. After optimization, the performance of GNAQPMS is greatly increased both on CPU and KNL platform, the single-node test showed that optimized version has 2.6x speedup on two sockets CPU platform and 3.3x speedup on one socket KNL platform compared with the baseline version code, which means the KNL has 1.29x speedup when compared with 2 sockets CPU platform.

Modeling prescribed burning experiments and assessing the fire impacts on local to regional air quality

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, L.; Baker, K. R.; Napelenok, S. L.; Elleman, R. A.; Urbanski, S. P.

2016-12-01

Biomass burning, including wildfires and prescribed burns, strongly impact the global carbon cycle and are of increasing concern due to the potential impacts on ambient air quality. This modelling study focuses on the evolution of carbonaceous compounds during a prescribed burning experiment and assesses the impacts of burning on local to regional air quality. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is used to conduct 4 and 2 km grid resolution simulations of prescribed burning experiments in southeast Washington state and western Idaho state in summer 2013. The ground and airborne measurements from the field experiment are used to evaluate the model performance in capturing surface and aloft impacts from the burning events. Phase partitioning of organic compounds in the plume are studied as it is a crucial step towards understanding the fate of carbonaceous compounds. The sensitivities of ambient concentrations and deposition to emissions are conducted for organic carbon, elemental carbon and ozone to estimate the impacts of fire on air quality.

Ambient Air Quality Data Inventory

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Office of Air and Radiation's (OAR) Ambient Air Quality Data (Current) contains ambient air pollution data collected by EPA, other federal agencies, as well as...

Workshop on indoor air quality research needs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1980-01-01

Workshop participants report on indoor air quality research needs including the monitoring of indoor air quality, report of the instrumentation subgroup of indoor air quality, health effects, and the report of the control technology session. Risk analysis studies addressing indoor environments were also summarized. (DLS)

Workshop on indoor air quality research needs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-01-01

Workshop participants report on indoor air quality research needs including the monitoring of indoor air quality, report of the instrumentation subgroup of indoor air quality, health effects, and the report of the control technology session. Risk analysis studies addressing indoor environments were also summarized

The UK National Air Quality Strategy: the effects of the proposed changes on Local Air Quality Management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beattie, C.I.; Ling, K.; Longhurst, J.W.S. [Univ. of the West of England, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Bristol (GB)] [and others

1999-07-01

The UK has implemented a system of Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) to tackle the many contemporary sources of air pollution, notably transport, industry and domestic fuel burning, in a holistic manner. The current legislation stems from the Environment Act 1995, which required a National Air Quality Strategy (NAQS) to be published outlining the Governments policies with respect to the assessment and management of air quality. The NAQS, originally published in March 1997, is on a rolling programme of reviews in order to reflect developments in European legislation, technological and scientific advances, improved air pollution modelling techniques and an increasingly better understanding of the economic and social issues involved. Following the first review (currently at consultation state), this paper will comment on how the proposed changes may affect the LAQM process. The proposed changes will also be summarised and discussed in the context of European Union air quality objectives and the economic analysis of NAQS.

Greater Vancouver regional district air quality management plan : implementation status report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-03-01

In December 1994, an Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) was adopted by the Greater Vancouver Regional District. The AQMP included ways to improve air quality in the region, leading to reduced emissions from commercial and industrial operations. This Plan encourages cooperation with the various communities affected to achieve clean air lifestyles and manage emissions from human activity to enhance human health and the integrity of the environment. The reduction of total emissions of the common air contaminants sulphur and nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds by 38 per cent is the stated aim of the AQMP. Five years of planning resulted in the formulation of the AQMP. The issues addressed were assigned one of four priorities as follows: priority 1 deals with ground level ozone and fine particulate, priority 2 looks at visibility, hazardous air pollutants, and global climate change, priority 3 concerns odour, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, acidic deposition, and nitrogen dioxide, and priority 4 contains total suspended particulate matter and volatile organic compounds. A total of 54 Emission Reduction Measures were established, and the document reviewed them. Progress is being made in all areas. 2 tabs., 3 figs

Past, Present, and Future Anthropogenic Emissions over Asia: a Regional Air Quality Modeling Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Woo, Jung-Hun; Jung, Bujeon; Choi, Ki-Chul; Seo, Ji-Hyun; Kim, Tae Hyung; Park, Rokjin J.; Youn, Daeok; Jeong, Jaein; Moon, Byung-Kwon; Yeh, Sang-Wook

2010-05-01

Climate change will also affect future regional air quality which has potential human health, ecosystem, and economic implications. To analyze the impacts of climate change on Asian air quality, the NIER (National Institute of Environmental Research, Korea) integrated modeling framework was developed based on global-to-regional climate and atmospheric chemistry models. In this study, we developed emission inventories for the modeling framework for 1980~2100 with an emphasis on Asia emissions. Two emission processing systems which have functions of emission projection, spatial/temporal allocation, and chemical speciation have been also developed in support of atmospheric chemistry models including GEOS-Chem and Models-3/CMAQ. Asia-based emission estimates, projection factors, temporal allocation parameters were combined to improve regional modeling capability of past, present and future air quality over Asia. The global CO emissions show a 23% decrease from the years 1980 to 2000. For the future CO (from year 2000 to 2100), the A2 scenario shows a 95% increase due to the B40 (Residential-Biofuel) sector of Western Africa, Eastern Africa and East Asia and the F51 (Transport Road-Fossil fuel) sector of Middle East, USA and South Asia. The B1 scenario, however, shows a 79% decrease of emissions due to B40 and F51 sectors of East Asia, South Asia and USA for the same period. In many cases, Asian emissions play important roles for global emission increase or decrease depending on the IPCC scenarios considered. The regional ozone forming potential will be changed due to different VOC/NOx emission ratio changes in the future. More similarities and differences of Asian emission characteristics, in comparison with its global counterpart, are investigated.

Implementation of a WRF-CMAQ Air Quality Modeling System in Bogotá, Colombia

Science.gov (United States)

Nedbor-Gross, R.; Henderson, B. H.; Pachon, J. E.; Davis, J. R.; Baublitz, C. B.; Rincón, A.

2014-12-01

Due to a continuous economic growth Bogotá, Colombia has experienced air pollution issues in recent years. The local environmental authority has implemented several strategies to curb air pollution that have resulted in the decrease of PM10 concentrations since 2010. However, more activities are necessary in order to meet international air quality standards in the city. The University of Florida Air Quality and Climate group is collaborating with the Universidad de La Salle to prioritize regulatory strategies for Bogotá using air pollution simulations. To simulate pollution, we developed a modeling platform that combines the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF), local emissions, and the Community Multi-scale Air Quality model (CMAQ). This platform is the first of its kind to be implemented in the megacity of Bogota, Colombia. The presentation will discuss development and evaluation of the air quality modeling system, highlight initial results characterizing photochemical conditions in Bogotá, and characterize air pollution under proposed regulatory strategies. The WRF model has been configured and applied to Bogotá, which resides in a tropical climate with complex mountainous topography. Developing the configuration included incorporation of local topography and land-use data, a physics sensitivity analysis, review, and systematic evaluation. The threshold, however, was set based on synthesis of model performance under less mountainous conditions. We will evaluate the impact that differences in autocorrelation contribute to the non-ideal performance. Air pollution predictions are currently under way. CMAQ has been configured with WRF meteorology, global boundary conditions from GEOS-Chem, and a locally produced emission inventory. Preliminary results from simulations show promising performance of CMAQ in Bogota. Anticipated results include a systematic performance evaluation of ozone and PM10, characterization of photochemical sensitivity, and air

Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter.

Science.gov (United States)

National Air Pollution Control Administration (DHEW), Washington, DC.

To assist states in developing air quality standards, this book offers a review of literature related to atmospheric particulates and the development of criteria for air quality. It not only summarizes the current scientific knowledge of particulate air pollution, but points up the major deficiencies in that knowledge and the need for further…

Investigating the air quality in aircraft cabins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nilsen, Steinar K.

2002-01-01

In recent years, there has been increasing concern about the air quality in aircraft cabins and its effects on health and safety for crew and passengers. Some of the major worries are risk of communication of infectious diseases, high incidence of respiratory diseases caused by low air moisture, and increased concentration of carbon dioxide from exhaled air due to the cabin air being recirculated. It also happens that fumes and gases enter the cabin by way of the ventilation system. This article describes the EU-funded research programme called CabinAir. The project aims to: (1) establish the current level of air quality in aircraft cabins, (2) establish the relationship between cabin air quality and the performance of environmental control and filtration systems, the air distribution, the energy consumption and the environmental impact of fuel burn. (3) develop new designs and technical solutions to improve the environmental control system and cabin air distribution/control systems, (4) optimise air quality in the cabin and minimise fuel consumption and environmental impacts, (5) develop performance specifications for the components, (6) draft European Pre-Normative Standards

Good air quality in offices improves productivity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fanger, Povl Ole

2000-01-01

Three recent independent studies have documented that the quality of indoor air has a significant and positive influence or? the productivity of office workers. A combined analysis of the results of the three studies shows a significant relationship between productivity and perceived indoor air...... quality. The impact on productivity justifies a much higher indoor air quality than the minimum levels prescribed in present standards and guidelines. One way of providing air of high quality for people to breathe, without involving excessive ventilation rates and energy use, is to provide "personalized...

Good air quality in offices improves productivity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fanger, Povl Ole

2000-01-01

Three recent independent studies have documented that the quality of indoor air has a significant and positive influence on the productivity of office workers. A combined analysis of the results of the three studies shows a significant relationship between productivity and perceived indoor air...... quality. The impact on productivity justifies a much higher indoor air quality than the minimum levels prescribed in present standards and guidelines. One way of providing air of high quality for people to breathe, without involving excessive ventilation rates and energy use, is to provide "personalized...

30 CFR 250.302 - Definitions concerning air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Definitions concerning air quality. 250.302... Definitions concerning air quality. For purposes of §§ 250.303 and 250.304 of this part: Air pollutant means..., pursuant to section 109 of the Clean Air Act, national primary or secondary ambient air quality standards...

HVAC design guidelines for effective indoor air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bladykas, M.P.

1993-01-01

Building owners, designers and occupants need to consider all the design measures that contribute to high indoor air quality. Building occupants, furnishings, equipment, and ambient air pollution all contribute to surmounting indoor air quality concerns. However, these can be minimized by following HVAC design guidelines which promote high indoor air quality while maintaining reasonable energy-efficiency. The possible liabilities and loss of business productivity due to air quality problems are too great to ignore

Mathematical models for atmospheric pollutants. Appendix D. Available air quality models. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drake, R.L.; McNaughton, D.J.; Huang, C.

1979-08-01

Models that are available for the analysis of airborne pollutants are summarized. In addition, recommendations are given concerning the use of particular models to aid in particular air quality decision making processes. The air quality models are characterized in terms of time and space scales, steady state or time dependent processes, reference frames, reaction mechanisms, treatment of turbulence and topography, and model uncertainty. Using these characteristics, the models are classified in the following manner: simple deterministic models, such as air pollution indices, simple area source models and rollback models; statistical models, such as averaging time models, time series analysis and multivariate analysis; local plume and puff models; box and multibox models; finite difference or grid models; particle models; physical models, such as wind tunnels and liquid flumes; regional models; and global models

Air quality and climate benefits of long-distance electricity transmission in China

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Wei; Yuan, Jiahai; Zhao, Yu; Lin, Meiyun; Zhang, Qiang; Victor, David G.; Mauzerall, Denise L.

2017-06-01

China is the world’s top carbon emitter and suffers from severe air pollution. It has recently made commitments to improve air quality and to peak its CO2 emissions by 2030. We examine one strategy that can potentially address both issues—utilizing long-distance electricity transmission to bring renewable power to the polluted eastern provinces. Based on an integrated assessment using state-of-the-science atmospheric modeling and recent epidemiological evidence, we find that transmitting a hybrid of renewable (60%) and coal power (40%) (Hybrid-by-wire) reduces 16% more national air-pollution-associated deaths and decreases three times more carbon emissions than transmitting only coal-based electricity. Moreover, although we find that transmitting coal power (Coal-by-Wire, CbW) is slightly more effective at reducing air pollution impacts than replacing old coal power plants with newer cleaner ones in the east (Coal-by-Rail, CbR) (CbW achieves a 6% greater reduction in national total air-pollution-related mortalities than CbR), both coal scenarios have approximately the same carbon emissions. We thus demonstrate that coordinating transmission planning with renewable energy deployment is critical to maximize both local air quality benefits and global climate benefits.

Air-quality and Climatic Consequences of Bioenergy Crop Cultivation

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, William Christian

Bioenergy is expected to play an increasingly significant role in the global energy budget. In addition to the use of liquid energy forms such as ethanol and biodiesel, electricity generation using processed energy crops as a partial or full coal alternative is expected to increase, requiring large-scale conversions of land for the cultivation of bioenergy feedstocks such as cane, grasses, or short rotation coppice. With land-use change identified as a major contributor to changes in the emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), many of which are known contributors to the pollutants ozone (O 3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), careful review of crop emission profiles and local atmospheric chemistry will be necessary to mitigate any unintended air-quality consequences. In this work, the atmospheric consequences of bioenergy crop replacement are examined using both the high-resolution regional chemical transport model WRF/Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry) and the global climate model CESM (Community Earth System Model). Regional sensitivities to several representative crop types are analyzed, and the impacts of each crop on air quality and climate are compared. Overall, the high emitting crops (eucalyptus and giant reed) were found to produce climate and human health costs totaling up to 40% of the value of CO 2 emissions prevented, while the related costs of the lowest-emitting crop (switchgrass) were negligible.

A Comprehensive Real-Time Indoor Air-Quality Level Indicator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jungho Kang

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The growing concern about Indoor Air-Quality has accelerated the development of small, low-cost air-quality monitoring systems. These systems are capable of monitoring various indoor air pollutants in real time, notifying users about the current air-quality status and gathering the information to the central server. However, most Internet of Things (IoT-based air-quality monitoring systems numerically present the sensed value per pollutant, making it difficult for general users to identify how polluted the air is. Therefore, in this paper, we first introduce a tiny air-quality monitoring system that we developed and, based on the system, we also test the applicability of the comprehensive Air-Quality Index (AQI, which is widely used all over the world, in terms of its capacity for a comprehensive indoor air-quality indication. We also develop design considerations for an IoT-based air-quality monitoring system and propose a real-time comprehensive indoor air-quality level indication method, which effectively copes with dynamic changes and is efficient in terms of processing and memory overhead.

40 CFR 52.1165 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1165 Section 52.1165 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulation for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.2729 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2729 Section 52.2729 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.1689 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1689 Section 52.1689 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.1234 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1234 Section 52.1234 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.2827 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2827 Section 52.2827 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.1603 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1603 Section 52.1603 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.1180 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1180 Section 52.1180 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.2779 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2779 Section 52.2779 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.2676 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2676 Section 52.2676 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.499 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.499 Section 52.499 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.2497 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2497 Section 52.2497 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.1884 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1884 Section 52.1884 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

Strength of smoke-free air laws and indoor air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kiyoung; Hahn, Ellen J; Robertson, Heather E; Lee, Seongjik; Vogel, Suzann L; Travers, Mark J

2009-04-01

Smoke-free air laws have been implemented in many Kentucky communities to protect the public from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke exposure. The impact of different strengths of smoke-free air laws on indoor air quality was assessed. Indoor air quality in hospitality venues was assessed in seven communities before and after comprehensive smoke-free air laws and in two communities only after partial smoke-free air laws. One community was measured three times: before any smoke-free air law, after the initial partial law, and after the law was strengthened to cover all workplaces and public places with few exemptions. Real-time measurements of particulate matters with 2.5 mum aerodynamic diameter or smaller (PM(2.5)) were obtained. When comprehensive smoke-free air laws were implemented, indoor PM(2.5) concentrations decreased significantly from 161 to 20 microg/m3. In one community that implemented a comprehensive smoke-free law after initially passing a partial law, indoor PM(2.5) concentrations were 304 microg/m3 before the law, 338 microg/m3 after the partial law, and 9 microg/m3 after the comprehensive law. The study clearly demonstrated that partial smoke-free air laws do not improve indoor air quality. A significant linear trend indicated that PM(2.5) levels in the establishments decreased with fewer numbers of burning cigarettes. Only comprehensive smoke-free air laws are effective in reducing indoor air pollution from secondhand tobacco smoke.

Compliance with air quality regulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steen, D.V.; Tackett, D.L.

1990-01-01

Due to the probable passage of Clean Air Act Amendments in 1990, electric utilities throughout the United States are faced with numerous choices to comply with the new acid rain regulations, expected in 1991. The choice of a compliance plan is not a simple task. Every compliance option will be costly. At Ohio Edison, deliberations are quite naturally influenced by past compliance with air quality regulations. This paper discusses compliance with air quality regulations in the 1970's, clean coal technologies and advanced scrubbers, and compliance with air quality regulations in 1995 - 2000. The choice of a compliance strategy for many utilities will involve serving customer loads through some combination of scrubbers, clean coal technologies, fuel switching, fuel blending, redispatch of units, and emissions trading. Whatever the final choice, it must be economic while providing sufficient flexibility to accommodate the critical uncertainties of load growth, state regulatory treatment, markets for emission allowances, advancements in control technologies, additional federal requirements for air emissions, equipment outages and fuel supply disruptions.s

Energy and air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-12-01

This is one of a series of handbooks designed to provide nontechnical readers with a general understanding of the interaction between energy development and environmental media and to provide a rudimentary data base from which estimates of potential future impacts can be made. This handbook describes the air quality impacts of energy development and summarizes the major federal legislation which regulates the potential air quality impacts of energy facilities and can thus influence the locations and timing of energy development. In addition, this report describes and presents the data which can be used as the basis for measurement, and in some cases, prediction of the potential conflicts between energy development and achieving and maintaining clean air. Energy utilization is the largest emission source of man-made air pollutants. Choices in energy resource development and utilization generate varying emissions or discharges into the atmosphere, the emissions are affected by the assimilative character of the atmosphere, and the resultant air pollutant concentrations have biological and aesthetic effects. This handbook describes the interrelationships of energy-related air emissions under various methods of pollution control, the assimilative character of the air medium, and the effects of air pollution. The media book is divided into three major sections: topics of concern relating to the media and energy development, descriptions of how to use available data to quantify and examine energy/environmental impacts, and the data

Toronto air quality index health links analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pengelly, D [McMaster Inst. of Environment and Health, Hamilton, ON (Canada); Campbell, M; Macfarlane, R; Li-Muller, A [Toronto Public Health, ON (Canada)

2001-10-01

Based on data acquired in the year 1995, Toronto Public Health published a report called Air Pollution Burden of Illness in Toronto. In that report, it was estimated that up to 1000 Toronto residents die prematurely each year while another 5500 are admitted to hospitals due to six smog-related air pollutants. In the present document, the authors examined the air quality classifications of the Ontario Air Quality Index (AQI) in an attempt to determine whether the values adequately reflect the state of air quality and the associated burden of illness in Toronto. After careful examination of the results, it became apparent that 92 per cent of the premature mortality and hospitalization took place at times when the Air Quality Index was in the very good or good range. At times when the Air Quality Index was in the moderate or poor-very poor range, an estimated 8 per cent of the burden of illness occurred. These results indicate that the concentration range of a pollutant used to classify the good and very good categories is not always in agreement with the pollutant levels responsible for the adverse health effects. As demonstrated by this study, the air quality associated with the very good or good range described by the AQI is responsible for negative health effects in Toronto, and are lower than the provincial criteria of Ontario. The air quality conditions that may have an impact on health are not always correctly identified by the current AQI system. The authors are recommending a review of the provincial criteria for several air pollutants, and the current AQI system needs to be modified. 16 refs., tabs., figs.

40 CFR 52.738 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.738 Section 52.738 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air Act are not met... air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The provisions...

40 CFR 52.793 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.793 Section 52.793 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air Act are not met... air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The provisions...

40 CFR 52.632 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.632 Section 52.632 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air Act are not met... air quality. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The provisions...

Outdoor Air Quality Level Inference via Surveillance Cameras

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zheng Zhang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Air pollution is a universal problem confronted by many developing countries. Because there are very few air quality monitoring stations in cities, it is difficult for people to know the exact air quality level anytime and anywhere. Fortunately, large amount of surveillance cameras have been deployed in the cities and can capture image densely and conveniently in the cities. In this case, this provides the possibility to utilize surveillance cameras as sensors to obtain data and predict the air quality level. To this end, we present a novel air quality level inference approach based on outdoor images. Firstly, we explore several features extracted from images as the robust representation for air quality prediction. Then, to effectively fuse these heterogeneous and complementary features, we adopt multikernel learning to learn an adaptive classifier for air quality level inference. In addition, to facilitate the research, we construct an Outdoor Air Quality Image Set (OAQIS dataset, which contains high quality registered and calibrated images with rich labels, that is, concentration of particles mass (PM, weather, temperature, humidity, and wind. Extensive experiments on the OAQIS dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Air quality management in Riga area

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leitass, A. [Riga City Council (Latvia). Air Monitoring Dept.

1995-12-31

The present Air Quality Management System was started in 1992 as a result of co-operation between two cities - Riga and Norrkoping (Sweden) supported by BITS (The Swedish Agency for International Technical and Economic Co-operation). Lots of Swedish companies were involved in different parts of this project. The strategy is designed by INDIC company developing the AIRVIRO which is a computer based system for all aspects of air quality management. Air pollution in Riga is a serious problem affecting health and damaging valuable buildings of historic value. The majority of the city`s air pollution is the result of emission sources inside the city. The traffic is the predominant source of pollution now. The fossil fuel power stations in the country are not considered to affect the air quality situation in Riga. (author)

Air quality management in Riga area

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leitass, A [Riga City Council (Latvia). Air Monitoring Dept.

1996-12-31

The present Air Quality Management System was started in 1992 as a result of co-operation between two cities - Riga and Norrkoping (Sweden) supported by BITS (The Swedish Agency for International Technical and Economic Co-operation). Lots of Swedish companies were involved in different parts of this project. The strategy is designed by INDIC company developing the AIRVIRO which is a computer based system for all aspects of air quality management. Air pollution in Riga is a serious problem affecting health and damaging valuable buildings of historic value. The majority of the city`s air pollution is the result of emission sources inside the city. The traffic is the predominant source of pollution now. The fossil fuel power stations in the country are not considered to affect the air quality situation in Riga. (author)

Air Quality and Health Benefits of China's Recent Stringent Environmental Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Y.; Xue, T.; Zhang, Q.; Geng, G.; He, K.

2016-12-01

Aggressive emission control measures were taken by China's central and local governments after the promulgation of the "Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan" in 2013. We evaluated the air quality and health benefits of this ever most stringent air pollution control policy during 2013-2015 by utilizing a two-stage data fusion model and newly-developed cause-specific integrated exposure-response functions (IER) developed for the Global Burden of Disease (GBD). The two-stage data fusion model predicts spatiotemporal continuous PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm) concentrations by integrating satellite-derived aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements, PM2.5 concentrations from measurement and air quality model, and other ancillary information. During the years of analysis, PM2.5 concentration dropped significantly on national average and over heavily polluted regions as identified by Mann-Kendall analysis. The national PM2.5-attributable mortality decreased by 72.8 (95% CI: 59.4, 85.2) thousand (6%) from 1.23 (95% CI: 1.06, 1.39) million in 2013 to 1.15 (95% CI: 0.98, 1.31) million in 2015 due to considerable reduction (i.e. 18%) of population-weighted PM2.5 from 61.4 to 50.5 µg/m3. Meteorological variations between 2013 and 2015 were estimated to raise the PM2.5 levels by 0.24 µg/m3 and national mortality by 2.1 (95% CI: 1.6, 2.6) thousand through sensitivity tests, which implies the dominant role of anthropogenic impacts on PM2.5 abatement and attributable mortality reduction. Our study affirms the effectiveness of China's recent air quality policy, however, due to the possible supralinear shape of C-R functions, health benefits induced by air quality improvement in these years are limited. We therefore appeal for continuous implementation of current policies and further stringent measures from both air quality improvement and public health protection perspectives.

40 CFR 52.96 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.96 Section 52.96 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Air Quality... deterioration of air quality. (b) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air Act are not met...

40 CFR 52.432 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.432 Section 52.432 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air Act are not met... air quality. (b) Regulation for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The provisions of...

Air toxic emissions from burning of biomass globally-preliminary results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ward, D.E.; Hao, W.M.

1992-01-01

Emissions of trace gases, particles, and air toxic substances in the smoke plumes from biomass fires are of importance to global climate change. The potential impact of the air toxic emissions on the human population of specific regions globally is another major concern. The toxic materials are produced in high concentrations in areas of heavy biomass burning, e.g., Amazon Basin and Central/southern Africa. We provide new estimates of air toxics based on the combustion efficiency (percent of total carbon released as CO 2 ) for fires burning in different ecosystems on a global basis. Estimates of total biomass consumed on a global basis range from 2 to 10 Pg (1 petagram = 10 15 g) per year. We apply emission factors for various air toxics (g of emission released per kg of fuel consumed) to the estimate of global biomass consumption of 6.4 Pg per year. The principal air toxics analyzed in this paper include: Total particulate matter, CO, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, benzene, toluene, o-xylene, m, p-xylene, benzo[a]pyrene, and polycyclic organic material. The total emissions calculated for these materials on a yearly global basis are: 75, 362, 4.9, 1.5, 1.5, 2.1, 2.1, 0.3, 0.6, 0.001, 0.026, Tg (1 teragram = 10 12 g) per year, respectively. Biomass burning in the United States contributes less than 3% to the total global emissions

Air quality and urban management in Europe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alberti, M. [Stanford Univ. (United States). Center for Conservation Biology; Joffre, S. [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland)

1995-12-31

Important changes in the quality of urban air have occurred in Europe during the last 20 years. Urban air quality trends are clearly correlated to changes in production and consumption processes which have occurred in European cities during the last decades. However, the way these trends are linked with the changes in the urban structure is not yet fully appreciated. A set of indicators is proposed to examine the relationships between air quality, energy consumption and transportation trends. On this basis is argued that the current decentralization of the urban structure and specialization of land use are major driving forces in current urban air pollution. The range of actions and tools to improve urban air quality should include: (1) land use planning, (2) efficient urban management, and (3) measures directed to protecting the quality of the urban environment. (author)

Air quality and urban management in Europe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alberti, M [Stanford Univ. (United States). Center for Conservation Biology; Joffre, S [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland)

1996-12-31

Important changes in the quality of urban air have occurred in Europe during the last 20 years. Urban air quality trends are clearly correlated to changes in production and consumption processes which have occurred in European cities during the last decades. However, the way these trends are linked with the changes in the urban structure is not yet fully appreciated. A set of indicators is proposed to examine the relationships between air quality, energy consumption and transportation trends. On this basis is argued that the current decentralization of the urban structure and specialization of land use are major driving forces in current urban air pollution. The range of actions and tools to improve urban air quality should include: (1) land use planning, (2) efficient urban management, and (3) measures directed to protecting the quality of the urban environment. (author)

Health and air quality 2005 : phase 2 : valuation of health impacts from air quality in the Lower Fraser Valley airshed

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Furberg, M.; Preston, K. [RWDI West Inc., Vancouver, BC (Canada); Sawyer, D. [Marbek Resource Consultants Ltd., Ottawa, ON (Canada); Brauer, M. [British Columbia Univ., Vancouver, BC (Canada). School of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene; Hanvelt, R. [British Columbia Univ., Vancouver, BC (Canada). Dept. of Health Care and Epidemiology

2005-07-15

This study provided estimates the health benefits and costs associated with specified changes in ambient air concentrations of particulate matter (PM) and ozone in the Lower Fraser Valley (LFV). Estimates were developed on a regional level. The study focused on PM and ozone, as current air quality monitoring data and scientific findings have indicated that these are the air contaminants of greatest concern in the region. Known air quality health outcome relationships were applied in a spreadsheet model to predict changes in health outcomes associated with 6 ambient air quality scenarios for 3 sub-regions within the LFV airshed. Concentration response functions based on epidemiological studies were used to estimate the number of health events associated with changes in air quality. For each scenario, the model calculated the expected number of the following health outcomes: mortality; chronic bronchitis; respiratory hospital admissions; cardiac hospital admissions; emergency room visits; child acute bronchitis; restricted activity days; asthma symptom days; minor restricted activity days and acute respiratory symptom days. The model also produced the dollar value of the health outcomes. A dollar metric was used so that the health outcomes could be aggregated and compared with other air quality management actions such the costs of improving ambient air quality. Results indicated that improving ambient air quality in the LFV will produce valued and socially desirable benefits, including reduced mortality and morbidity. The measures contemplated by decision-makers to maintain and improve air quality in the LFV will trigger benefits that are likely to be significant. 101 refs., 7 tabs., 7 figs.

Integrating air-related health surveillance into air quality management: perceptions and practicalities

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Wright, C

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Health surveillance is presently not an integral part of air quality management in South Africa, although ambient air pollution standards are derived from health effects of personal exposure. In a survey to air quality officials and environmental...

Manual on indoor air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diamond, R.C.; Grimsrud, D.T.

1983-12-01

This reference manual was prepared to assist electric utilities in helping homeowners, builders, and new home buyers to understand a broad range of issues related to indoor air quality. The manual is directed to technically knowledgeable persons employed by utility companies - the customer service or marketing representative, applications engineer, or technician - who may not have specific expertise in indoor air quality issues. In addition to providing monitoring and control techniques, the manual summarizes the link between pollutant concentrations, air exchange, and energy conservation and describes the characteristics and health effects of selected pollutants. Where technical information is too lengthy or complex for inclusion in this volume, reference sources are given. Information for this manual was gathered from technical studies, manufacturers' information, and other materials from professional societies, institutes, and associations. The aim has been to provide objective technical and descriptive information that can be used by utility personnel to make informed decisions about indoor air quality issues

Manual on indoor air quality

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Diamond, R.C.; Grimsrud, D.T.

1983-12-01

This reference manual was prepared to assist electric utilities in helping homeowners, builders, and new home buyers to understand a broad range of issues related to indoor air quality. The manual is directed to technically knowledgeable persons employed by utility companies - the customer service or marketing representative, applications engineer, or technician - who may not have specific expertise in indoor air quality issues. In addition to providing monitoring and control techniques, the manual summarizes the link between pollutant concentrations, air exchange, and energy conservation and describes the characteristics and health effects of selected pollutants. Where technical information is too lengthy or complex for inclusion in this volume, reference sources are given. Information for this manual was gathered from technical studies, manufacturers' information, and other materials from professional societies, institutes, and associations. The aim has been to provide objective technical and descriptive information that can be used by utility personnel to make informed decisions about indoor air quality issues.

Air Quality Monitoring: Risk-Based Choices

Science.gov (United States)

James, John T.

2009-01-01

Air monitoring is secondary to rigid control of risks to air quality. Air quality monitoring requires us to target the credible residual risks. Constraints on monitoring devices are severe. Must transition from archival to real-time, on-board monitoring. Must provide data to crew in a way that they can interpret findings. Dust management and monitoring may be a major concern for exploration class missions.

40 CFR 52.931 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.931 Section 52.931 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The..., the Kentucky Division for Air Quality has determined that the application complies with the applicable...

40 CFR 52.2451 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2451 Section 52.2451 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... Quality Deterioration. (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 52.2528 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2528 Section 52.2528 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of Sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... Quality Deterioration. (b) Regulations for Preventing Significant Deterioration of Air Quality, the...

Downscaling a Global Climate Model to Simulate Climate Change Impacts on U.S. Regional and Urban Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

Trail, M.; Tsimpidi, A. P.; Liu, P.; Tsigaridis, K.; Hu, Y.; Nenes, A.; Russell, A. G.

2013-01-01

Climate change can exacerbate future regional air pollution events by making conditions more favorable to form high levels of ozone. In this study, we use spectral nudging with WRF to downscale NASA earth system GISS modelE2 results during the years 2006 to 2010 and 2048 to 2052 over the continental United States in order to compare the resulting meteorological fields from the air quality perspective during the four seasons of five-year historic and future climatological periods. GISS results are used as initial and boundary conditions by the WRF RCM to produce hourly meteorological fields. The downscaling technique and choice of physics parameterizations used are evaluated by comparing them with in situ observations. This study investigates changes of similar regional climate conditions down to a 12km by 12km resolution, as well as the effect of evolving climate conditions on the air quality at major U.S. cities. The high resolution simulations produce somewhat different results than the coarse resolution simulations in some regions. Also, through the analysis of the meteorological variables that most strongly influence air quality, we find consistent changes in regional climate that would enhance ozone levels in four regions of the U.S. during fall (Western U.S., Texas, Northeastern, and Southeastern U.S), one region during summer (Texas), and one region where changes potentially would lead to better air quality during spring (Northeast). We also find that daily peak temperatures tend to increase in most major cities in the U.S. which would increase the risk of health problems associated with heat stress. Future work will address a more comprehensive assessment of emissions and chemistry involved in the formation and removal of air pollutants.

76 FR 76048 - Air Quality Designations for the 2008 Lead (Pb) National Ambient Air Quality Standards

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-06

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 40 CFR Part 81 [EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0443; FRL-9492-3] RIN 2060-AR17 Air Quality Designations for the 2008 Lead (Pb) National Ambient Air Quality Standards Correction In rule document 2011-29460 appearing on pages 72097-72120 in the issues of Tuesday, November 22, 2011...

Air quality management planning (AQMP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sivertsen Bjarne

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In most urban areas of the world, particulate matter (PM levels pose severe problems, addressed in several policy areas (air quality, climate change, and human health. PM presents multiple challenges due to the multitude of its sources, spanning many sectors of economic activity as well as nature, and due to the complexity of atmospheric processes involved in its transport and secondary formation. For the authorities, the goal is to assure minimal impacts of atmospheric PM levels, in practice represented by compliance with existing regulations and standards. This may be achieved through an air quality management plan (AQMP. In Northern America and in parts of Europe, comprehensive research programs have guided development of AQMP over the last forty years. This cumulated experience can be utilized by others who face the same problems, but have yet to develop their own substantial research base. The main purpose of the AQMP development process is to establish an effective and sound basis for planning and management of air quality in a selected area. This type of planning will ensure that significant sources of impacts are identified and controlled in a most cost-effective manner. The choice of tools, methods and input information is often dictated by their availability, and should be evaluated against current best practices. Important elements of the AQMP are the identification of sources and development of a complete emission inventory, the development and operation of an air quality monitoring programme, and the development and application of atmospheric dispersion models. Major task is to collect the necessary input data. The development of the AQMP will take into account: - Air Quality Management System (AQMS requirements; - Operational and functional structure requirements; - Source identification through emission inventories; - Source reduction alternatives, which may be implemented; - Mechanisms for facilitating interdepartmental

Tropospheric ozone and its precursors from the urban to the global scale from air quality to short-lived climate forcer

Science.gov (United States)

Monks, P. S.; Archibald, A. T.; Colette, A.; Cooper, O.; Coyle, M.; Derwent, R.; Fowler, D.; Granier, C.; Law, K. S.; Mills, G. E.; Stevenson, D. S.; Tarasova, O.; Thouret, V.; von Schneidemesser, E.; Sommariva, R.; Wild, O.; Williams, M. L.

2015-08-01

Ozone holds a certain fascination in atmospheric science. It is ubiquitous in the atmosphere, central to tropospheric oxidation chemistry, yet harmful to human and ecosystem health as well as being an important greenhouse gas. It is not emitted into the atmosphere but is a byproduct of the very oxidation chemistry it largely initiates. Much effort is focused on the reduction of surface levels of ozone owing to its health and vegetation impacts, but recent efforts to achieve reductions in exposure at a country scale have proved difficult to achieve owing to increases in background ozone at the zonal hemispheric scale. There is also a growing realisation that the role of ozone as a short-lived climate pollutant could be important in integrated air quality climate change mitigation. This review examines current understanding of the processes regulating tropospheric ozone at global to local scales from both measurements and models. It takes the view that knowledge across the scales is important for dealing with air quality and climate change in a synergistic manner. The review shows that there remain a number of clear challenges for ozone such as explaining surface trends, incorporating new chemical understanding, ozone-climate coupling, and a better assessment of impacts. There is a clear and present need to treat ozone across the range of scales, a transboundary issue, but with an emphasis on the hemispheric scales. New observational opportunities are offered both by satellites and small sensors that bridge the scales.

Impacts of South East Biomass Burning on local air quality in South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Wai-man Yeung, Irene; Fat Lam, Yun; Eniolu Morakinyo, Tobi

2016-04-01

Biomass burning is a significant source of carbon monoxide and particulate matter, which is not only contribute to the local air pollution, but also regional air pollution. This study investigated the impacts of biomass burning emissions from Southeast Asia (SEA) as well as its contribution to the local air pollution in East and South China Sea, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. Three years (2012 - 2014) of the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian-Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) with particles dispersion analyses using NCEP (Final) Operational Global Analysis data (FNL) data (2012 - 2014) were analyzed to track down all possible long-range transport from SEA with a sinking motion that worsened the surface air quality (tropospheric downwash from the free troposphere). The major sources of SEA biomass burning emissions were first identified using high fire emissions from the Global Fire Emission Database (GFED), followed by the HYSPLIT backward trajectory dispersion modeling analysis. The analyses were compared with the local observation data from Tai Mo Shan (1,000 msl) and Tap Mun (60 msl) in Hong Kong, as well as the data from Lulin mountain (2,600 msl) in Taiwan, to assess the possible impacts of SEA biomass burning on local air quality. The correlation between long-range transport events from the particles dispersion results and locally observed air quality data indicated that the background concentrations of ozone, PM2.5 and PM10 at the surface stations were enhanced by 12 μg/m3, 4 μg/m3 and 7 μg/m3, respectively, while the long-range transport contributed to enhancements of 4 μg/m3, 4 μg/m3 and 8 μg/m3 for O3, PM2.5 and PM10, respectively at the lower free atmosphere.

40 CFR 240.205 - Air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Air quality. 240.205 Section 240.205 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES GUIDELINES FOR THE THERMAL PROCESSING OF SOLID WASTES Requirements and Recommended Procedures § 240.205 Air quality. ...

Pilot study on indoor air quality: Managing indoor air-quality risks. Report on a meeting held in St. Michaels, Maryland on October 25-27, 1989

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-06-01

Included in this study are the following: quantifying future trends of indoor air quality as a basis for government policy plans; assessing indoor air quality risks of pesticides; formaldehyde emission standards in the Federal Republic of Germany; orientations and actions of the European Community in the assessment and prevention of indoor air pollution; EPA and indoor air quality; the non-regulatory approach to reducing risks from radon exposure; U.S. consumer product safety commission; a builders guide to healthy homes; WHO air quality guidelines for Europe; the approach to control indoor air quality in Italy; guidelines - ventilation classes; energy consequences of upgrading indoor air quality; Canada's guidelines for residential indoor air quality: rationale and scope; Canadian ventilation and venting standards; indoor air quality building surveys case studies; design of indoor air quality studies; summary findings of inter-ministerial committee on indoor air quality (Ontario); the Quebec approach; employee survey EPA headquarters; pollution in closed spaces and its consequences in conservation of works of art; and how Norwegian health authorities will handle indoor air quality problems

Current Indoor Air Quality in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Jinno, Hideto

2016-01-01

People spend more than two thirds of their daily time indoors. Hence, maintaining a healthy indoor environment is indispensable for the prevention of building related illness. In Japan, guidelines for indoor air quality have been established for 13 volatile/semi-volatile organic compounds (VOCs/SVOCs). These guidelines are now under revision by the Committee on Sick House Syndrome: Indoor Air Pollution. In order to gain information on the current indoor air pollutants and their levels, we carried out a nation-wide survey of VOCs and aldehydes in indoor residential air during 2012-2013. In this review, I concisely summarized the current indoor air quality of Japan.

40 CFR 52.683 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.683 Section 52.683 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The State of Idaho Rules for Control of Air Pollution in Idaho, specifically... the Clean Air Act for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. (b) The requirements of...

Perceived Air Quality in a Displacement Ventilated Room

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brohus, Henrik; Knudsen, Henrik Nellemose; Nielsen, Peter V.

in a displacement ventilated room was determined directly by asking humans about how they perceived the air quality. A trained sensory panel comprising 12 subjects assessed the perceived air quality immediately after entering a climate chamber. The experiments showed that the perceived air quality...

Air quality and future energy system planning

Science.gov (United States)

Sobral Mourao, Zenaida; Konadu, Dennis; Lupton, Rick

2016-04-01

Ambient air pollution has been linked to an increasing number of premature deaths throughout the world. Projected increases in demand for food, energy resources and manufactured products will likely contribute to exacerbate air pollution with an increasing impact on human health, agricultural productivity and climate change. Current events such as tampering emissions tests by VW car manufacturers, failure to comply with EU Air Quality directives and WHO guidelines by many EU countries, the problem of smog in Chinese cities and new industrial emissions regulations represent unique challenges but also opportunities for regulators, local authorities and industry. However current models and practices of energy and resource use do not consider ambient air impacts as an integral part of the planing process. Furthermore the analysis of drivers, sources and impacts of air pollution is often fragmented, difficult to understand and lacks effective visualization tools that bring all of these components together. This work aims to develop a model that links impacts of air quality on human health and ecosystems to current and future developments in the energy system, industrial and agricultural activity and patterns of land use. The model will be added to the ForeseerTM tool, which is an integrated resource analysis platform that has been developed at the University of Cambridge initially with funding from BP and more recently through the EPSRC funded Whole Systems Energy Modeling (WholeSEM) project. The basis of the tool is a set of linked physical models for energy, water and land, including the technologies that are used to transform these resources into final services such as housing, food, transport and household goods. The new air quality model will explore different feedback effects between energy, land and atmospheric systems with the overarching goal of supporting better communication about the drivers of air quality and to incorporate concerns about air quality into

Japan’s efforts to promote global health using satellite remote sensing data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for prediction of infectious diseases and air quality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tamotsu Igarashi

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper we review the status of new applications research of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA for global health promotion using information derived from Earth observation data by satellites in cooperation with inter-disciplinary collaborators. Current research effort at JAXA to promote global public health is focused primarily on the use of remote sensing to address two themes: (i prediction models for malaria and cholera in Kenya, Africa; and (ii air quality assessment of small, particulate matter (PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide (NO2 and ozone (O3. Respiratory and cardivascular diseases constitute cross-boundary public health risk issues on a global scale. The authors report here on results of current of a collaborative research to call attention to the need to take preventive measures against threats to public health using newly arising remote sensing information from space.

Setting priorities for ambient air quality objectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-10-01

Alberta has ambient air quality objectives in place for several pollutants, toxic substances and other air quality parameters. A process is in place to determine if additional air quality objectives are required or if existing objectives should be changed. In order to identify the highest priority substances that may require an ambient air quality objective to protect ecosystems and public health, a rigorous, transparent and cost effective priority setting methodology is required. This study reviewed, analyzed and assessed successful priority setting techniques used by other jurisdictions. It proposed an approach for setting ambient air quality objective priorities that integrates the concerns of stakeholders with Alberta Environment requirements. A literature and expert review were used to examine existing priority-setting techniques used by other jurisdictions. An analysis process was developed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various techniques and their ability to take into account the complete pathway between chemical emissions and damage to human health or the environment. The key strengths and weaknesses of each technique were identified. Based on the analysis, the most promising technique was the tool for the reduction and assessment of chemical and other environmental impacts (TRACI). Several considerations for using TRACI to help set priorities for ambient air quality objectives were also presented. 26 refs, 8 tabs., 4 appendices

Data Assimilation and Air Quality Forecasting

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eskes, H.; Timmermans, R.; Curier, L.; Ruyter de Wildt, M. de; Segers, A.; Sauter, F.; Schaap, M.

2014-01-01

Lotos-Euros is a chemistry transportmodel developed in the Netherlands, and is used for air quality assessments and forecasts. Operational air quality forecasts for the Netherlands concerning ozone and PM10 are made available on the RIVM webpage (http://www.lml.rivm.nl/verw.html) and are used to

Estimating the Impact of Urbanization on Air Quality in China Using Spatial Regression Models

OpenAIRE

Fang, Chuanglin; Liu, Haimeng; Li, Guangdong; Sun, Dongqi; Miao, Zhuang

2015-01-01

Urban air pollution is one of the most visible environmental problems to have accompanied China’s rapid urbanization. Based on emission inventory data from 2014, gathered from 289 cities, we used Global and Local Moran’s I to measure the spatial autorrelation of Air Quality Index (AQI) values at the city level, and employed Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Spatial Lag Model (SAR), and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) to quantitatively estimate the comprehensive impact and spatial variati...

40 CFR 81.77 - Puerto Rico Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Puerto Rico Air Quality Control Region... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) DESIGNATION OF AREAS FOR AIR QUALITY PLANNING PURPOSES Designation of Air Quality Control Regions § 81.77 Puerto Rico Air Quality Control Region. The Puerto Rico Air Quality Control Region...

Air quality assessment in Salim Slam Tunnel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Fadel, M.; Hashisho, Z.; Saikaly, P.

1999-01-01

Full text.Vehicle emissions constitute a serious occupational environmental hazard particularly in confined spaces such as tunnels and underground parking garages. these emissions at elevated concentrations, can cause adverse health effects, which range from nausea and eye irritation to mutagenicity, carcinogenicity and even death. This paper presents an environmental air quality assessment in a tunnel located in a highly congested urban area. For this purpose, air samples were collected and analyzed for the presence of primary air pollutants, priority metals, and volatile organic carbons. Air quality modeling was conducted to simulate variations of pollutant concentrations in the tunnel under worst case scenarios including traffic congestion and no air ventilation. Field measurements and mathematical simulation results were used to develop a strategy for proper air quality management in tunnels

Uncertainties in emission estimates of greenhouse gases and air pollutants in China and India and their impacts on regional air quality

Science.gov (United States)

Saikawa, E.; Trail, M.; Young, C. L.; Zhong, M.; Avramov, A.; Kim, H.; Wu, Q.; Janssens-Maenhout, G. G. A.; Kurokawa, J. I.; Klimont, Z.; Wagner, F.; Naik, V.; Horowitz, L. W.; Zhao, Y.; Nagpure, A.; Gurjar, B.; Zhang, Q.

2017-12-01

Greenhouse gas and air pollutant precursor emissions have been increasing rapidly in both China and India, resulting in local to regional scale effects on air quality. Modelers use emission inventories to represent the temporal and spatial distribution of impacts of air pollutant emissions on regional and global air quality. However, large uncertainties exist in emission inventories. Quantification of uncertainties in emission estimates is essential to better understand the linkages among emissions, air quality, climate, and health. We use Monte Carlo methods to assess the uncertainties of the existing carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter (PM) emission estimates for both China and India. We focus on the period between 2000 and 2008. In addition to national totals, we also analyze emissions from four source sectors, including industry, transport, power, and residential. We also assess differences in the existing emission estimates within each of the subnational regions. We find large disagreements among the existing inventories at disaggregated levels. We further assess the impact of these differences in emissions on air quality using a chemical transport model. More efforts are needed to constrain emissions, especially in the Indo-Gangetic Plains and in the East and Central regions of China, where large differences across emission inventories result in concomitant large differences in the simulated concentrations of PM and ozone. Our study also highlights the importance of constraining SO2, NOx, and NH3 emissions for secondary PM concentrations over China and India.

Analysis of hospital interior air quality audits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lin Lee-Kuo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In general, people spent more than 80∼90% of living time in the indoor every day, human health and indoor environmental quality are closely related. The hospital has a complex and unique environmental characteristics, medical personnel and patients are prolonged exposed to risk factors in a variety of environments. Therefore, the merits of indoor air quality in the hospital, not only has a threat to the health of medical personnel and patients, but also will directly affect the quality and efficiency of health care work. A regular monitoring can, improve and maintain a well of indoor air quality, thus ensuring the safety maintenance of medical personnel and patients in hospital, it has become an important issue for hospital. This study has literatures review to collate and analyse that are related issues with indoor air quality. Then measures the indoor air quality test with direct-reading instruments. In selected hospital of this study were field-tested, then use the measured data in the field, discussion and analysis of the causes of air pollutants and the establishment of the sensing area of pollutants Concentration empirical mode.

40 CFR 52.1929 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1929 Section 52.1929 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) Regulation for preventing significant deterioration of air... preventing significant deterioration of air quality. [56 FR 5656, Feb. 12, 1991, as amended at 68 FR 11324...

40 CFR 52.1485 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1485 Section 52.1485 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... include approvable procedures for preventing the significant deterioration of air quality. (b) Regulation...

A review of scientifc linkages and interactions between climate change and air quality, with implications for air quality management in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tirusha Thambiran

2010-04-01

Full Text Available In recent years there has been considerable advancement in our scientifc understanding of the linkages and interactions between climate change and air quality. A warmer, evolving climate is likely to have severe consequences for air quality due to impacts on pollution sources and meteorology. Climate-induced changes to sources of tropospheric ozone precursor gases and to atmospheric circulation are likely to lead to changes in both the concentration and dispersion of near-surface ozone that could act to offset improvements in air quality. The control of air pollutants through air quality management is also likely to impact on climate change, with reductions in ozone, particulate matter and sulphur dioxide being of particular interest. The improved understanding of the relationship between air quality and climate change provides a scientific basis for policy interventions. After a review of the scientific linkages, the potential to include climate change considerations in air quality management planning processes in South Africa was examined.

Air Quality and Indoor Environmental Exposures: Clinical Impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a term which refers to the air quality within and around buildings and homes as it relates to the health and comfort of the occupants. Many ambient (outdoor) air pollutants readily permeate indoor spaces. Because indoor air can be considerably more pol...

Indoor Air Quality: Maryland Public Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Maryland State Dept. of Education, College Park. Office of Administration and Finance.

Less than adequate indoor air quality in schools can lead to a higher risk of health problems, an increase in student and teacher absenteeism, diminished learning, and even hazardous conditions. An indoor air quality program that addresses the planning, design, maintenance, and operation of public school buildings should be implemented at the…

40 CFR 52.2303 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2303 Section 52.2303 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The plan submitted by Texas is approved as meeting the requirements of part C, Clean Air Act for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The plan...

Air quality risk management.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Martin L

2008-01-01

Rather than attempt to provide a comprehensive account of air quality risk assessment, as might be found in a textbook or manual, this article discusses some issues that are of current importance in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, with special emphasis on risk assessment in the context of policy formulation, and emerging scientific knowledge. There are two pollutants of particular concern and that both pose challenges for risk assessment and policy, and they are particulate matter (PM) and ozone. The article describes some issues for health risk assessment and finally some forward-looking suggestions for future approaches to air quality management.

Global and regional trends in particulate air pollution and attributable health burden over the past 50 years

Science.gov (United States)

Butt, E. W.; Turnock, S. T.; Rigby, R.; Reddington, C. L.; Yoshioka, M.; Johnson, J. S.; Regayre, L. A.; Pringle, K. J.; Mann, G. W.; Spracklen, D. V.

2017-10-01

Long-term exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM2.5, mass of particles with an aerodynamic dry diameter of air quality has changed rapidly. Here we used the HadGEM3-UKCA coupled chemistry-climate model, integrated exposure-response relationships, demographic and background disease data to provide the first estimate of the changes in global and regional ambient PM2.5 concentrations and attributable health burdens over the period 1960 to 2009. Over this period, global mean population-weighted PM2.5 concentrations increased by 38%, dominated by increases in China and India. Global attributable deaths increased by 89% to 124% over the period 1960 to 2009, dominated by large increases in China and India. Population growth and ageing contributed mostly to the increases in attributable deaths in China and India, highlighting the importance of demographic trends. In contrast, decreasing PM2.5 concentrations and background disease dominated the reduction in attributable health burden in Europe and the United States. Our results shed light on how future projected trends in demographics and uncertainty in the exposure-response relationship may provide challenges for future air quality policy in Asia.

Increased office productivity through improved indoor air quality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fanger, Povl Ole

2002-01-01

Control of indoor pollution sources and ventilation are both means of improving indoor air quality. Three independent experiments have recently documented that removing a pollution source or increasing the ventilation rate will improve perceived air quality, reduce the intensity of several Sick...... with the air quality was reduced by either measure. The quantitative relationsh8ip was 1.1% change in performance per 10% dissatisfied, in the range 25-70% dissatisifed, or 0.5% change in performance per 1 decipol (dp), in the range 2-13 dp. Significant improvements in performance occurred only when......, future developments in HVCAC technology may include "personalized air ", new ways of improving the quality of supply air (e.g., by filtration), more extensive use of heat recovery from exhaust air and systematic selection of low-polluting building and furnishing materials....

40 CFR 81.36 - Maricopa Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Regions § 81.36 Maricopa Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Phoenix-Tucson Intrastate Air Quality Control Region has been renamed the Maricopa Intrastate Air Quality Control Region... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Maricopa Intrastate Air Quality...

40 CFR 81.88 - Billings Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Regions § 81.88 Billings Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Metropolitan Billings Intrastate Air Quality Control Region (Montana) has been renamed the Billings Intrastate Air Quality Control... to by Montana authorities as follows: Sec. 481.168Great Falls Intrastate Air Quality Control Region...

Air quality high resolution simulations of Italian urban areas with WRF-CHIMERE

Science.gov (United States)

Falasca, Serena; Curci, Gabriele

2017-04-01

The new European Directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (2008/50/EC) encourages the use of modeling techniques to support the observations in the assessment and forecasting of air quality. The modelling system based on the combination of the WRF meteorological model and the CHIMERE chemistry-transport model is used to perform simulations at high resolution over the main Italian cities (e.g. Milan, Rome). Three domains covering Europe, Italy and the urban areas are nested with a decreasing grid size up to 1 km. Numerical results are produced for a winter month and a summer month of the year 2010 and are validated using ground-based observations (e.g. from the European air quality database AirBase). A sensitivity study is performed using different physics options, domain resolution and grid ratio; different urban parameterization schemes are tested using also characteristic morphology parameters for the cities considered. A spatial reallocation of anthropogenic emissions derived from international (e.g. EMEP, TNO, HTAP) and national (e.g. CTN-ACE) emissions inventories and based on the land cover datasets (Global Land Cover Facility and GlobCover) and the OpenStreetMap tool is also included. Preliminary results indicate that the introduction of the spatial redistribution at high-resolution allows a more realistic reproduction of the distribution of the emission flows and thus the concentrations of the pollutants, with significant advantages especially for the urban environments.

40 CFR 52.1987 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1987 Section 52.1987 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality rules for the prevention of significant deterioration of air quality (provisions of OAR chapter 340, Divisions 200, 202...

Federal Interagency Committee on Indoor Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

The Federal Interagency Committee on Indoor Air Quality (CIAQ), which meets three times a year, was established by Congress to coordinate the activities of the Federal Government on issues relating to Indoor Air Quality.

40 CFR 52.343 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.343 Section 52.343 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air Act are not met for the following categories of sources for preventing the significant deterioration of air quality...

40 CFR 52.833 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.833 Section 52.833 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air Act are met... for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The provisions of § 52.21 except paragraph (a...

A review of biomass burning: Emissions and impacts on air quality, health and climate in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jianmin; Li, Chunlin; Ristovski, Zoran; Milic, Andelija; Gu, Yuantong; Islam, Mohammad S; Wang, Shuxiao; Hao, Jiming; Zhang, Hefeng; He, Congrong; Guo, Hai; Fu, Hongbo; Miljevic, Branka; Morawska, Lidia; Thai, Phong; Lam, Yun Fat; Pereira, Gavin; Ding, Aijun; Huang, Xin; Dumka, Umesh C

2017-02-01

Biomass burning (BB) is a significant air pollution source, with global, regional and local impacts on air quality, public health and climate. Worldwide an extensive range of studies has been conducted on almost all the aspects of BB, including its specific types, on quantification of emissions and on assessing its various impacts. China is one of the countries where the significance of BB has been recognized, and a lot of research efforts devoted to investigate it, however, so far no systematic reviews were conducted to synthesize the information which has been emerging. Therefore the aim of this work was to comprehensively review most of the studies published on this topic in China, including literature concerning field measurements, laboratory studies and the impacts of BB indoors and outdoors in China. In addition, this review provides insights into the role of wildfire and anthropogenic BB on air quality and health globally. Further, we attempted to provide a basis for formulation of policies and regulations by policy makers in China. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Global malaria connectivity through air travel

OpenAIRE

Huang, Zhuojie; Tatem, Andrew J

2013-01-01

Background Air travel has expanded at an unprecedented rate and continues to do so. Its effects have been seen on malaria in rates of imported cases, local outbreaks in non-endemic areas and the global spread of drug resistance. With elimination and global eradication back on the agenda, changing levels and compositions of imported malaria in malaria-free countries, and the threat of artemisinin resistance spreading from Southeast Asia, there is a need to better understand how the modern flow...

Managing future air quality in megacities: A case study for Delhi

Science.gov (United States)

Amann, Markus; Purohit, Pallav; Bhanarkar, Anil D.; Bertok, Imrich; Borken-Kleefeld, Jens; Cofala, Janusz; Heyes, Chris; Kiesewetter, Gregor; Klimont, Zbigniew; Liu, Jun; Majumdar, Dipanjali; Nguyen, Binh; Rafaj, Peter; Rao, Padma S.; Sander, Robert; Schöpp, Wolfgang; Srivastava, Anjali; Vardhan, B. Harsh

2017-07-01

Megacities in Asia rank high in air pollution at the global scale. In many cities, ambient concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) have been exceeding both the WHO interim targets as well as respective national air quality standards. This paper presents a systems analytical perspective on management options that could efficiently improve air quality at the urban scale, having Delhi as a case study. We employ the newly developed GAINS-City policy analysis framework, consisting of a bottom up emission calculation combined with atmospheric chemistry-transport calculation, to derive innovative insights into the current sources of pollution and their impacts on ambient PM2.5, both from emissions of primary PM as well as precursors of secondary inorganic and organic aerosols. We outline the likely future development of these sources, quantify the related ambient PM2.5 concentrations and health impacts, and explore potential policy interventions that could effectively reduce environmental pollution and resulting health impacts in the coming years. The analysis demonstrates that effective improvement of Delhi's air quality requires collaboration with neighboring States and must involve sources that are less relevant in industrialized countries. At the same time, many of the policy interventions will have multiple co-benefits on development targets in Delhi and its neighboring States. Outcomes of this study, as well as the modelling tools used herein, are applicable to other urban areas and fast growing metropolitan zones in the emerging Asian regions.

Fire in the forest: The air quality dilemma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Core, J.E.

1992-01-01

Fire has long been an important tool of forest land managers. Air regulators responsible for assuring that the provisions of the Clean Air Act are met, see smoke from forest land burning as just another source of air pollution. From an air quality standpoint, pollutants released by forestry burning practices are no different than those emitted from other sources since smoke is smoke, regardless of whether it comes from a woodstove, a wood products industry stack, agricultural burning, or forestry land management. This paper discusses the dilemma that air quality and forest land managers face when balancing air quality protection with the role of fire in the forest

Parent's Guide to School Indoor Air Quality. Revised

Science.gov (United States)

Healthy Schools Network, Inc., 2012

2012-01-01

Air pollution is air pollution, indoors or out. Good indoor air quality (IAQ) contributes to a favorable learning environment for students, protects health, and supports the productivity of school personnel. In schools in poor repair, leaky roofs and crumbling walls have caused additional indoor air quality problems, including contamination with…

Urban air quality in Europe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Viana, Mar (ed.) [Spanish Research Council - CSIC, Barcelona (Spain). Inst. for Environmental Assessment and Water Research

2013-07-01

This book provides an overview of air quality in urban environments in Europe, focusing on air pollutant emission sources and formation mechanisms, measurement and modeling strategies, and future perspectives. The emission sources described are biomass burning, vehicular traffic, industry and agriculture, but also African dust and long-range transport of pollutants across the European regions. The impact of these emission sources and processes on atmospheric particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen oxides and volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds is discussed and critical areas for particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide in Europe are identified. Finally, this volume presents future perspectives, mainly regarding upcoming air quality monitoring strategies, metrics of interest, such as submicron and nanoparticles, and indoor and outdoor exposure scenarios.

Indoor air quality in Brazilian universities.

Science.gov (United States)

Jurado, Sonia R; Bankoff, Antônia D P; Sanchez, Andrea

2014-07-11

This study evaluated the indoor air quality in Brazilian universities by comparing thirty air-conditioned (AC) (n = 15) and naturally ventilated (NV) (n = 15) classrooms. The parameters of interest were indoor carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature, relative humidity (RH), wind speed, viable mold, and airborne dust levels. The NV rooms had larger concentration of mold than the AC rooms (1001.30 ± 125.16 and 367.00 ± 88.13 cfu/m3, respectively). The average indoor airborne dust concentration exceeded the Brazilian standards (indoor air quality in Brazilian university classrooms affects the health of students. Therefore, indoor air pollution needs to be considered as an important public health problem.

40 CFR 52.1116 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1116 Section 52.1116 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air... deterioration of air quality. (b) The following provisions of 40 CFR 52.21 are hereby incorporated and made a...

Effect of air quality alerts on human health: a regression discontinuity analysis in Toronto, Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Hong; Li, Qiongsi; Kaufman, Jay S; Wang, Jun; Copes, Ray; Su, Yushan; Benmarhnia, Tarik

2018-01-01

Ambient air pollution is a major health risk globally. To reduce adverse health effects on days when air pollution is high, government agencies worldwide have implemented air quality alert programmes. Despite their widespread use, little is known about whether these programmes produce any observable public-health benefits. We assessed the effectiveness of such programmes using a quasi-experimental approach. We assembled a population-based cohort comprising all individuals who resided in the city of Toronto (Ontario, Canada) from 2003 to 2012 (about 2·6 million people). We ascertained seven health outcomes known to be affected by short-term elevation of air pollution, using provincial health administrative databases. These health outcomes were cardiovascular-related mortality, respiratory-related mortality, and hospital admissions or emergency-department visits for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We applied a regression discontinuity design to assess the effectiveness of an intervention (ie, the air quality alert programme). To quantify the effect of the air quality alert programme, we estimated for each outcome both the absolute rate difference and the rate ratio attributable to programme eligibility (by intention-to-treat analysis) and the alerts themselves (by two-stage regression approach), respectively. Between Jan 1, 2003, and Dec 31, 2012, on average between three and 27 daily cardiovascular or respiratory events were reported in Toronto (depending on the outcome). Alert announcements reduced asthma-related emergency-department visits by 4·73 cases per 1 000 000 people per day (95% CI 0·55-9·38), or in relative terms by 25% (95% CI 1-47). Programme eligibility also led to 2·05 (95% CI 0·07-4·00) fewer daily emergency-department visits for asthma. We did not detect a significant reduction in any other health outcome as a result of alert announcements or programme

Application of ESE Data and Tools to Air Quality Management: Services for Helping the Air Quality Community use ESE Data (SHAirED)

Science.gov (United States)

Falke, Stefan; Husar, Rudolf

2011-01-01

The goal of this REASoN applications and technology project is to deliver and use Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) data and tools in support of air quality management. Its scope falls within the domain of air quality management and aims to develop a federated air quality information sharing network that includes data from NASA, EPA, US States and others. Project goals were achieved through a access of satellite and ground observation data, web services information technology, interoperability standards, and air quality community collaboration. In contributing to a network of NASA ESE data in support of particulate air quality management, the project will develop access to distributed data, build Web infrastructure, and create tools for data processing and analysis. The key technologies used in the project include emerging web services for developing self describing and modular data access and processing tools, and service oriented architecture for chaining web services together to assemble customized air quality management applications. The technology and tools required for this project were developed within DataFed.net, a shared infrastructure that supports collaborative atmospheric data sharing and processing web services. Much of the collaboration was facilitated through community interactions through the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Air Quality Workgroup. The main activities during the project that successfully advanced DataFed, enabled air quality applications and established community-oriented infrastructures were: develop access to distributed data (surface and satellite), build Web infrastructure to support data access, processing and analysis create tools for data processing and analysis foster air quality community collaboration and interoperability.

Air quality in developing world disaster and conflict zones--the case of post-earthquake Haiti.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Mary E; Rappaport, Ann

2014-10-15

Data on air quality are remarkably limited in the poorest of the world's countries. This is especially true for post-conflict and disaster zones, where international relief efforts focus largely on more salient public health challenges such as water and sanitation, infectious diseases, and housing. Using post-earthquake Haiti as the example case, this commentary explores air quality challenges in the developing world, highlighting concerns related to infrastructure damage from post-conflict and disaster settings. We contend that there is a growing and presently unmet need for further research and attention from the global health community to address these issues. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Administrative law judge as a watchdog for air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schutte-Postma, L.; Van Wee, B.

2005-01-01

Insight is given on the correctness of judgements of the judge for the administrative law in the Netherlands with regard to air quality and the discontinuation of related spatial planning and building and construction projects. Also attention is paid to the new Decree on Air Quality, including the regulation on balancing. This regulation implies that deteriorated air quality in one place must be compensated by improved air quality somewhere else [nl

Air quality indicators from the Environmental Performance Index: potential use and limitations in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Garland, Rebecca M

2017-05-01

Full Text Available and input data, that while the data used by the EPI are a well-thought out estimate of a country’s air quality profile, they remain a generalised estimate. The assumptions and uncertainty inherent in such an ambitious global-wide attempt make the estimates...

Status of ambient air quality at Barauni

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kannan, G.K.

1993-01-01

Due to industrialization, Barauni has become a well developed industrial estate to be considered as industrial hub of Bihar. Contemporary to the industrial growth, the environmental quality also gradually deteriorated. Hence a need was felt to know the status of ambient air quality for proper planning of the future growth of industries. The ambient air quality was monitored at 16 stations in and around Barauni industrial estate during 3 major seasons for the period of one year. The results are discussed as to the status of the ambient air quality and suggestion have also been made for improvement. (author). 5 refs., 2 figs., 7 tabs

Helping air quality managers identify vulnerable communities

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Wright, C

2008-10-01

Full Text Available population exposure and vulnerability risk prioritisation model is proposed for potential use by air quality managers in conjunction with their air quality management plans. The model includes factors such as vulnerability caused by poverty, respiratory...

Air Quality Impacts of Petroleum Refining and Petrochemical Industries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aiswarya Ragothaman

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Though refineries and petrochemical industries meet society’s energy demands and produce a range of useful chemicals, they can also affect air quality. The World Health Organization (WHO has identified polluted air as the single largest environmental risk, and hence it is necessary to strive for and maintain good air quality. To manage potential health impacts, it is important to implement proper air quality management by understanding the link between specific pollutant sources and resulting population exposures. These industries release pollutants such as Volatile Organic Compounds, greenhouse gases and particulate matter, from various parts of their operations. Air quality should be monitored and controlled more meticulously in developing nations where increased energy demands, industrialization and overpopulation has led to more emissions and lower air quality. This paper presents a review of findings and highlights from various studies on air quality impacts of petroleum refining and petrochemical plants in many regions in the world.

Clearing the air. Air quality modelling for policy support

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hendriks, C.

2017-01-01

The studies presented in this thesis were performed to provide policy makers with more accurate information about the sources of air pollution and the possible consequences of future developments on air quality. This enables policy makers to make better informed decisions when formulating policies

Residential indoor air quality guideline : ozone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

Ozone (O 3 ) is a colourless gas that reacts rapidly on surfaces and with other constituents in the air. Sources of indoor O 3 include devices sold as home air cleaners, and some types of office equipment. Outdoor O 3 is also an important contributor to indoor levels of O 3 , depending on the air exchange rate with indoor environments. This residential indoor air quality guideline examined factors that affect the introduction, dispersion and removal of O 3 indoors. The health effects of prolonged exposure to O 3 were discussed, and studies conducted to evaluate the population health impacts of O 3 were reviewed. The studies demonstrated that there is a significant association between ambient O 3 and adverse health impacts. Exposure guidelines for residential indoor air quality were discussed. 14 refs.

40 CFR 93.160 - Mitigation of air quality impacts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Mitigation of air quality impacts. 93... quality impacts. (a) Any measures that are intended to mitigate air quality impacts must be identified and..., the revised text is set forth as follows: § 93.160 Mitigation of air quality impacts. (e) When...

Air Quality Modelling and the National Emission Database

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, S. S.

The project focuses on development of institutional strengthening to be able to carry out national air emission inventories based on the CORINAIR methodology. The present report describes the link between emission inventories and air quality modelling to ensure that the new national air emission...... inventory is able to take into account the data requirements of air quality models...

Characterising air quality risk in the City of Johannesburg

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Ngwenya, NS

2014-10-01

Full Text Available of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act (AQA). Air quality data that were obtained from the South African Air Quality Information System (SAAQIS) were averaged such that the diurnal, seasonal and annual trends could be identified. Geographic...

South Coast Air Quality Management District Truck Testing | Transportation

Science.gov (United States)

Research | NREL South Coast Air Quality Management District Truck Evaluation South Coast Air Quality Management District Truck Evaluation Photo of heavy-duty truck cab. Electric drayage truck Cargo Transportation project, conducted in partnership with the South Coast Air Quality Management

Impacts of Energy Sector Emissions on PM2.5 Air Quality in Northern India

Science.gov (United States)

Karambelas, A. N.; Kiesewetter, G.; Heyes, C.; Holloway, T.

2015-12-01

India experiences high concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and several Indian cities currently rank among the world's most polluted cities. With ongoing urbanization and a growing economy, emissions from different energy sectors remain major contributors to air pollution in India. Emission sectors impact ambient air quality differently due to spatial distribution (typical urban vs. typical rural sources) as well as source height characteristics (low-level vs. high stack sources). This study aims to assess the impacts of emissions from three distinct energy sectors—transportation, domestic, and electricity—on ambient PM2.5­­ in northern India using an advanced air quality analysis framework based on the U.S. EPA Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Present air quality conditions are simulated using 2010 emissions from the Greenhouse Gas-Air Pollution Interaction and Synergies (GAINS) model. Modeled PM2.5 concentrations are compared with satellite observations of aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for 2010. Energy sector emissions impacts on future (2030) PM2.5 are evaluated with three sensitivity simulations, assuming maximum feasible reduction technologies for either transportation, domestic, or electricity sectors. These simulations are compared with a business as usual 2030 simulation to assess relative sectoral impacts spatially and temporally. CMAQ is modeled at 12km by 12km and include biogenic emissions from the Community Land Model coupled with the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols in Nature (CLM-MEGAN), biomass burning emissions from the Global Fires Emissions Database (GFED), and ERA-Interim meteorology generated with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for 2010 to quantify the impact of modified anthropogenic emissions on ambient PM2.5 concentrations. Energy sector emissions analysis supports decision-making to improve future air quality and public health in

Research on Air Quality Evaluation based on Principal Component Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xing; Wang, Zilin; Guo, Min; Chen, Wei; Zhang, Huan

2018-01-01

Economic growth has led to environmental capacity decline and the deterioration of air quality. Air quality evaluation as a fundamental of environmental monitoring and air pollution control has become increasingly important. Based on the principal component analysis (PCA), this paper evaluates the air quality of a large city in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area in recent 10 years and identifies influencing factors, in order to provide reference to air quality management and air pollution control.

A new method for calculation of an air quality index

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ilvessalo, P. [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland). Air Quality Dept.

1995-12-31

Air quality measurement programs in Finnish towns have expanded during the last few years. As a result of this it is more and more difficult to make use of all the measured concentration data. Citizens of Finnish towns are nowadays taking more of an interest in the air quality of their surroundings. The need to describe air quality in a simplified form has increased. Air quality indices permit the presentation of air quality data in such a way that prevailing conditions are more easily understandable than when using concentration data as such. Using an air quality index always means that some of the information about concentrations of contaminants in the air will be lost. How much information is possible to extract from a single index number depends on the calculation method. A new method for the calculation of an air quality index has been developed. This index always indicates the overstepping of an air quality guideline level. The calculation of this air quality index is performed using the concentrations of all the contaminants measured. The index gives information both about the prevailing air quality and also the short-term trend. It can also warn about the expected exceeding of guidelines due to one or several contaminants. The new index is especially suitable for the real-time monitoring and notification of air quality values. The behaviour of the index was studied using material from a measurement period in the spring of 1994 in Kaepylae, Helsinki. Material from a pre-operational period in the town of Oulu was also available. (author)

A new method for calculation of an air quality index

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ilvessalo, P [Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland). Air Quality Dept.

1996-12-31

Air quality measurement programs in Finnish towns have expanded during the last few years. As a result of this it is more and more difficult to make use of all the measured concentration data. Citizens of Finnish towns are nowadays taking more of an interest in the air quality of their surroundings. The need to describe air quality in a simplified form has increased. Air quality indices permit the presentation of air quality data in such a way that prevailing conditions are more easily understandable than when using concentration data as such. Using an air quality index always means that some of the information about concentrations of contaminants in the air will be lost. How much information is possible to extract from a single index number depends on the calculation method. A new method for the calculation of an air quality index has been developed. This index always indicates the overstepping of an air quality guideline level. The calculation of this air quality index is performed using the concentrations of all the contaminants measured. The index gives information both about the prevailing air quality and also the short-term trend. It can also warn about the expected exceeding of guidelines due to one or several contaminants. The new index is especially suitable for the real-time monitoring and notification of air quality values. The behaviour of the index was studied using material from a measurement period in the spring of 1994 in Kaepylae, Helsinki. Material from a pre-operational period in the town of Oulu was also available. (author)

Potential Impacts of Future Climate Change on Regional Air Quality and Public Health over China

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, C.; Zhang, Q.; Zhang, Y.; He, K.

2017-12-01

Future climate change would affect public health through changing air quality. Climate extremes and poor weather conditions are likely to occur at a higher frequency in China under a changing climate, but the air pollution-related health impacts due to future climate change remain unclear. Here the potential impacts of future climate change on regional air quality and public health over China is projected using a coupling of climate, air quality and epidemiological models. We present the first assessment of China's future air quality in a changing climate under the Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) scenario using the dynamical downscaling technique. In RCP4.5 scenario, we estimate that climate change from 2006-2010 to 2046-2050 is likely to adversely affect air quality covering more than 86% of population and 55% of land area in China, causing an average increase of 3% in O3 and PM2.5 concentrations, which are found to be associated with the warmer climate and the more stable atmosphere. Our estimate of air pollution-related mortality due to climate change in 2050 is 26,000 people per year in China. Of which, the PM2.5-related mortality is 18,700 people per year, and the O3-related mortality is 7,300 people per year. The climate-induced air pollution and health impacts vary spatially. The climate impacts are even more pronounced on the urban areas where is densely populated and polluted. 90% of the health loss is concentrated in 20% of land areas in China. We use a simple statistical analysis method to quantify the contributions of climate extremes and find more intense climate extremes play an important role in climate-induced air pollution-related health impacts. Our results indicate that global climate change will likely alter the level of pollutant management required to meet future air quality targets as well as the efforts to protect public health in China.

Outdoor air pollution and sperm quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Lafuente, Rafael; García-Blàquez, Núria; Jacquemin, Bénédicte; Checa, Miguel Angel

2016-09-15

Exposure to air pollution has been clearly associated with a range of adverse health effects, including reproductive toxicity, but its effects on male semen quality are still unclear. We performed a systematic review (up to June 2016) to assess the impact of air pollutants on sperm quality. We included 17 semi-ecological, panel, and cohort studies, assessing outdoor air pollutants, such as PM2.5, PM10, NOx, SO2, and O3, and their effects on DNA fragmentation, sperm count, sperm motility, and sperm morphology. Thirteen studies assessed air pollution exposure measured environmentally, and six used biomarkers of air pollution exposure (two did both). We rated the studies using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and assessed with the exposure method. Taking into account these factors and the number of studies finding significant results (positive or negative), the evidence supporting an effect of air pollution on DNA fragmentation is weak but suggestive, on sperm motility is limited and probably inexistent, on lower sperm count is inconclusive, and on sperm morphology is very suggestive. Because of the diversity of air pollutants and sperm parameters, and the studies' designs, we were unable to perform a meta-analysis. In summary, most studies concluded that outdoor air pollution affects at least one of the four semen quality parameters included in the review. However, results lack consistency, and furthermore, studies were not comparable. Studies using standardized air pollution and semen measures are required to obtain more reliable conclusions. CRD42015007175. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Air quality health index variation across British Columbia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hasselback, P. [Interior Health Authority, Kelowna, BC (Canada); Taylor, E. [British Columbia Ministry of Health Living and Sport, Vancouver, BC (Canada)

2010-09-15

The new Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is a tool aiming to present the health risks related to air pollution in Canada. This index can be used by individuals to help them reduce their health risk resulting from poor air quality. An assessment of the short term health risk induced by poor air quality is provided to Canadians through the AQHI. The AQHI is based on three factors: ambient concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, fine particulate matter and ozone, the local air quality information being presented on an hourly and daily basis and being calculated each hour for several locations across Canada. Pulmonary disorders and impacts on cardiac function are the more significant short term health risks. Longer term exposure to poor air quality is associated with increased rates of allergies and asthma, low birth weight, atherosclerosis, poorer lung development in children, lung cancer and ear infections. Information on the AQHI and on the variation across British Columbia of the health risk associated with this index are presented in this document. 19 refs., 5 tabs., 5 figs.

The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kemp, K.; Palmgren, F.

The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme (LMP) was started in 1982 as the first nation-wide urban air pollution monitoring programme in Denmark. The programme has been adjusted to the pollution pattern by two revisions. The present phase (LMP III) was started in 1992. From 2000 a new phase...... continuously in order to improve the knowledge about the NO, NO2 and O3 problem complex. At the rural site outside Copenhagen the same program is conducted as at the street stations with the inclusion of O3. Only NO, NO2 and O3 are reported from the other rural site. Air quality limit values have been...... and plants. The new EU Directives introduce revised standards for NO2, SO2, particles (PM10) and Pb. They are implemented through the first "daughter" Directive to the Air Quality Framework Directive. It was adopted by the EU council in April 1999. The new limit values shall be in force from January 2001 (18...

Indoor air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hollowell, C.D.

1981-06-01

Rising energy prices, among other factors, have generated an incentive to reduce ventilation rates and thereby reduce the cost of heating and cooling buildings. Reduced ventilation in buildings may significantly increase exposure to indoor air pollution and perhaps have adverse effects on occupant health and comfort. Preliminary findings suggest that reduced ventilation may adversely affect indoor air quality unless appropriate control strategies are undertaken. The strategies used to control indoor air pollution depend on the specific pollutant or class of pollutants encountered, and differ somewhat depending on whether the application is to an existing building or a new building under design and construction. Whenever possible, the first course of action is prevention or reduction of pollutant emissions at the source. In most buildings, control measures involve a combination of prevention, removal, and suppression. Common sources of indoor air pollution in buildings, the specific pollutants emitted by each source, the potential health effects, and possible control techniques are discussed

Fire Influences on Atmospheric Composition, Air Quality, and Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Voulgarakis, Apostolos; Field, Robert D.

2015-01-01

Fires impact atmospheric composition through their emissions, which range from long-lived gases to short-lived gases and aerosols. Effects are typically larger in the tropics and boreal regions but can also be substantial in highly populated areas in the northern mid-latitudes. In all regions, fire can impact air quality and health. Similarly, its effect on large-scale atmospheric processes, including regional and global atmospheric chemistry and climate forcing, can be substantial, but this remains largely unexplored. The impacts are primarily realised in the boundary layer and lower free troposphere but can also be noticeable in upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UT/LS) region, for the most intense fires. In this review, we summarise the recent literature on findings related to fire impact on atmospheric composition, air quality and climate. We explore both observational and modelling approaches and present information on key regions and on the globe as a whole. We also discuss the current and future directions in this area of research, focusing on the major advances in emission estimates, the emerging efforts to include fire as a component in Earth system modelling and the use of modelling to assess health impacts of fire emissions.

Monitoring Air Quality over China: Evaluation of the modeling system of the PANDA project

Science.gov (United States)

Bouarar, Idir; Katinka Petersen, Anna; Brasseur, Guy; Granier, Claire; Xie, Ying; Wang, Xuemei; Fan, Qi; Wang, Lili

2015-04-01

Air pollution has become a pressing problem in Asia and specifically in China due to rapid increase in anthropogenic emissions related to growth of China's economic activity and increasing demand for energy in the past decade. Observed levels of particulate matter and ozone regularly exceed World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines in many parts of the country leading to increased risk of respiratory illnesses and other health problems. The EU-funded project PANDA aims to establish a team of European and Chinese scientists to monitor air pollution over China and elaborate air quality indicators in support of European and Chinese policies. PANDA combines state-of-the-art air pollution modeling with space and surface observations of chemical species to improve methods for monitoring air quality. The modeling system of the PANDA project follows a downscaling approach: global models such as MOZART and MACC system provide initial and boundary conditions to regional WRF-Chem and EMEP simulations over East Asia. WRF-Chem simulations at higher resolution (e.g. 20km) are then performed over a smaller domain covering East China and initial and boundary conditions from this run are used to perform simulations at a finer resolution (e.g. 5km) over specific megacities like Shanghai. Here we present results of model simulations for January and July 2010 performed during the first year of the project. We show an intercomparison of the global (MACC, EMEP) and regional (WRF-Chem) simulations and a comprehensive evaluation with satellite measurements (NO2, CO) and in-situ data (O3, CO, NOx, PM10 and PM2.5) at several surface stations. Using the WRF-Chem model, we demonstrate that model performance is influenced not only by the resolution (e.g. 60km, 20km) but also the emission inventories used (MACCity, HTAPv2), their resolution and diurnal variation, and the choice of initial and boundary conditions (e.g. MOZART, MACC analysis).

[Air quality control systems: heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC)].

Science.gov (United States)

Bellucci Sessa, R; Riccio, G

2004-01-01

After a brief illustration of the principal layout schemes of Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), the first part of this paper summarizes the standards, both voluntary and compulsory, regulating HVAC facilities design and installation with regard to the question of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). The paper then examines the problem of ventilation systems maintenance and the essential hygienistic requirements in whose absence HVAC facilities may become a risk factor for people working or living in the building. Lastly, the paper deals with HVAC design strategies and methods, which aim not only to satisfy comfort and air quality requirements, but also to ensure easy and effective maintenance procedures.

Indoor air humidity, air quality, and health - An overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolkoff, Peder

2018-04-01

There is a long-standing dispute about indoor air humidity and perceived indoor air quality (IAQ) and associated health effects. Complaints about sensory irritation in eyes and upper airways are generally among top-two symptoms together with the perception "dry air" in office environments. This calls for an integrated analysis of indoor air humidity and eye and airway health effects. This overview has reviewed the literature about the effects of extended exposure to low humidity on perceived IAQ, sensory irritation symptoms in eyes and airways, work performance, sleep quality, virus survival, and voice disruption. Elevation of the indoor air humidity may positively impact perceived IAQ, eye symptomatology, and possibly work performance in the office environment; however, mice inhalation studies do not show exacerbation of sensory irritation in the airways by low humidity. Elevated humidified indoor air appears to reduce nasal symptoms in patients suffering from obstructive apnea syndrome, while no clear improvement on voice production has been identified, except for those with vocal fatigue. Both low and high RH, and perhaps even better absolute humidity (water vapor), favors transmission and survival of influenza virus in many studies, but the relationship between temperature, humidity, and the virus and aerosol dynamics is complex, which in the end depends on the individual virus type and its physical/chemical properties. Dry and humid air perception continues to be reported in offices and in residential areas, despite the IAQ parameter "dry air" (or "wet/humid air") is semantically misleading, because a sensory organ for humidity is non-existing in humans. This IAQ parameter appears to reflect different perceptions among other odor, dustiness, and possibly exacerbated by desiccation effect of low air humidity. It is salient to distinguish between indoor air humidity (relative or absolute) near the breathing and ocular zone and phenomena caused by moisture

Impacts Of Passive Removal Materials On Indoor Air Quality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Darling, Erin; Cros, Clement; Wargocki, Pawel

2011-01-01

Indoor air quality (IAQ) was determined in the presence of eight combinations of building materials with and without ozone. Air samples were collected in twin 30 m3 chambers to assess the C5 to C10 aldehyde content of the air while a panel of 18 to 23 human subjects assessed air quality using...... a continuous acceptability scale. Materials were either new carpet that was aired out for three weeks, clay plaster applied to gypsum wallboard that was aired out for up to one month, both materials, or neither. Perceived Air Quality (PAQ) assessed by the panel was most acceptable and concentrations...

40 CFR 52.2346 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2346 Section 52.2346 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The Utah plan, as submitted, is approved as meeting the... construct on Indian Reservations. (b) Regulation for prevention of significant deterioration of air quality...

40 CFR 52.1778 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1778 Section 52.1778 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a)-(b) [Reserved] (c) All applications and other information... Resources, Division of Air Quality, 1641 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1641 or local...

40 CFR 52.2178 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2178 Section 52.2178 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The South Dakota plan, as submitted, is approved as meeting the... on Indian reservations; (b) Regulations for preventing significant deterioration of air quality. The...

40 CFR 81.76 - State of Hawaii Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false State of Hawaii Air Quality Control... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) DESIGNATION OF AREAS FOR AIR QUALITY PLANNING PURPOSES Designation of Air Quality Control Regions § 81.76 State of Hawaii Air Quality Control Region. The State of Hawaii Air Quality...

Air quality: how to assess air quality management policies on a short and on a long term? The integration of the climate factor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prevot, Aurelie

2014-01-01

This document presents the activities and works performed by the INERIS Institute in the development of tools for the assessment of air quality management policies including the climate factor. This comprises the development of simulations within the frame of the SALUT'AIR project, and also within the frame of the reviewing of the European policy on air quality (directives 2008/50/CE on ambient air quality and 2001/81/CE on national limits of emissions of some pollutants). The CHIMERE model of chemistry and transport is one of these tools. Simulations are performed to analyse the impact of scenarios of air quality management on a short term, in terms of pollutant emissions, pollutant concentration, and particle concentrations. The integration of a climate factor is justified by the existence of interactions between climate and air quality

Assessment of the Air Quality of Isfahan City, Iran, Using Selected Air Quality Parameters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Borhan Mansouri

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Today, air pollution is one of the major problems in large cities including Isfahan. Methods: The objective of this study was to investigate the variations of ozone (O3, carbon monoxide (CO, nitric oxide (NO, nitrogen dioxide (NO2, nitrogen oxides (NOx, sulphur dioxide (SO2, and particulate matter (PM10 concentrations in different months at three stations and also to explore the correlations between pollutants. Monthly averages of air pollutant concentrations recorded in three pollution monitoring stations (Bozorgmehr, Azadi, and Laleh were obtained in 2008 and 2009. Results: There were significant monthly variations in the concentrations of air quality parameters. Results showed that there was a correlation between ozone and particle matter (p<0.05, and between nitric oxide and nitrogen oxides (p<0.01. The statistical analysis indicated that there were significant differences in the O3, NO, NOx and PM10 concentrations. Conclusion: The air quality monitoring data collected in city center of Isfahan showed seasonal variations for O3, CO, NO, NO2, NOx, SO2, and PM10.

40 CFR 81.112 - Charleston Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Regions § 81.112 Charleston Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Charleston Intrastate Air Quality Control Region (South Carolina) consists of the territorial area encompassed by the... Quality Control Region: Region 1. 81.107Greenwood Intrastate Air Quality Control Region: Region 2. 81...

40 CFR 52.2233 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2233 Section 52.2233 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a)(1) Paragraph 1200-3-9-.01(4)-(0)-2. of Tennessee's regulations... requesting innovative technology waivers which would significantly impact air quality in adjacent states. (2...

40 CFR 52.270 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.270 Section 52.270 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) With the exception of the areas listed in paragraph (b) of this section: (1... plan does not include approvable procedures for preventing the significant deterioration of air quality...

40 CFR 52.144 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.144 Section 52.144 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Act are not met... lands does not include approvable procedures for preventing the significant deterioration of air quality...

Urban air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fenger, J.

1999-01-01

Since 1950 the world population has more than doubled, and the global number of cars has increased by a factor of 10. In the same period the fraction of people living in urban areas has increased by a factor of 4. In year 2000 this will amount to nearly half of the world population. About 20 urban regions will each have populations above 10 million people. Seen over longer periods, pollution in major cities tends to increase during the built up phase, they pass through a maximum and are then again reduced, as abatement strategies are developed. In the industrialised western world urban air pollution is in some respects in the last stage with effectively reduced levels of sulphur dioxide and soot. In recent decades however, the increasing traffic has switched the attention to nitrogen oxides, organic compounds and small particles. In some cities photochemical air pollution is an important urban problem, but in the northern part of Europe it is a large-scale phenomenon, with ozone levels in urban streets being normally lower than in rural areas. Cities in Eastern Europe have been (and in many cases still are) heavily polluted. After the recent political upheaval, followed by a temporary recession and a subsequent introduction of new technologies, the situation appears to improve. However, the rising number of private cars is an emerging problem. In most developing countries the rapid urbanisation has so far resulted in uncontrolled growth and deteriorating environment. Air pollution levels are here still rising on many fronts. Apart from being sources of local air pollution, urban activities are significant contributors to transboundary pollution and to the rising global concentrations of greenhouse gasses. Attempts to solve urban problems by introducing cleaner, more energy-efficient technologies will generally have a beneficial impact on these large-scale problems. Attempts based on city planning with a spreading of the activities, on the other hand, may generate

Indoor Air Quality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Selman, Ayser Dawod; Heiselberg, Per

Overall purpose of the research is to provide an overview of the relevance and importance of various defined Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) parameters in a European perspective. Based on the report it should be possible to prioritize which countries to target for further activities as well as it should...

40 CFR 52.2581 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.2581 Section 52.2581 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a)-(c) [Reserved] (d) The requirements of sections 160 through 165... provisions for prevention of significant deterioration of air quality at 40 CFR 52.21 are applicable to the...

40 CFR 52.986 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.986 Section 52.986 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The plan submitted by the Governor of Louisiana on August 14, 1984 (as adopted... preventing significant deterioration of air quality. (b) The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the...

40 CFR 52.1634 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.1634 Section 52.1634 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. (a) The plan submitted by the Governor of New Mexico on February 21... adopted by the NMEID on March 9, 1990), Air Quality Control Regulation 707—Permits, Prevention of...

Hospital-acquired infections associated with poor air quality in air-conditioned environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Pinheiro da Silva

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Backgound and Objectives: Individuals living in cities increasingly spend more time indoors in air-conditioned environments. Air conditioner contamination can be caused by the presence of aerosols from the external or internal environment, which may be associated with disease manifestations in patients present in this type of environment. Therefore, the aim of this review was to assess the air quality in air-conditioned hospital environments as a risk factor for hospital-acquired infections – HAI – as the air can be a potential source of infection, as well as assess the exposure of professionals and patients to different pollutants. Material and Methods: A literature review was performed in the LILACS, MEDLINE, SCIELO, SCIENCE DIRECT databases, CAPES thesis database and Ministry of Health – Brazil, including studies published between 1982 and 2008. The literature search was grouped according to the thematic focus, as follows: ventilation, maintenance and cleaning of systems that comprehend the environmental quality standard. Discussion and Conclusion: Outbreaks of hospital-acquired infections associated with Aspergillus, Acinetobacter, Legionella, and other genera such as Clostridium and Nocardia, which were found in air conditioners, were observed, thus indicating the need for air-conditioning quality control in these environments.

Indoor air quality in energy efficient buildings. A literature review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thomsen, Judith; Berge, Magnar

2012-07-01

There is currently a major focus on measures to reduce global warming. Several international studies show that the energy efficiency of buildings is the easiest and most cost-effective climate action. Passive houses are characterized of that the buildings are more airtight, have more insulation and has balanced mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. This report discusses about this one-sided focus on energy conservation, and if {sup c}hange{sup }in building methods can have a negative impact on indoor air quality and people's health. (Author)

Regional Air Quality Data

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This asset provides data on regional air quality, including trace level SO2, nitric acid, ozone, carbon monoxide, and NOy; and particulate sulfate, nitrate, and...

Air quality management in China: issues, challenges, and options.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shuxiao; Hao, Jiming

2012-01-01

This article analyzed the control progress and current status of air quality, identified the major air pollution issues and challenges in future, proposed the long-term air pollution control targets, and suggested the options for better air quality in China. With the continuing growth of economy in the next 10-15 years, China will face a more severe situation of energy consumption, electricity generation and vehicle population leading to increase in multiple pollutant emissions. Controlling regional air pollution especially fine particles and ozone, as well as lowering carbon emissions from fossil fuel consumption will be a big challenge for the country. To protect public health and the eco-system, the ambient air quality in all Chinese cities shall attain the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) and ambient air quality guideline values set by the World Health Organization (WHO). To achieve the air quality targets, the emissions of SO2, NOx, PM10, and volatile organic compounds (VOC) should decrease by 60%, 40%, 50%, and 40%, respectively, on the basis of that in 2005. A comprehensive control policy focusing on multiple pollutants and emission sources at both the local and regional levels was proposed to mitigate the regional air pollution issue in China. The options include development of clean energy resources, promotion of clean and efficient coal use, enhancement of vehicle pollution control, implementation of synchronous control of multiple pollutants including SO2, NOx, VOC, and PM emissions, joint prevention and control of regional air pollution, and application of climate friendly air pollution control measures.

Investigation of infiltration and indoor air quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-03-01

A multitask study was performed in the State of New York to provide information for guiding home energy conservation programs while maintaining acceptable indoor air quality. During the study, the statistical distribution of radon concentrations inside 2,400 homes was determined. The relationships among radon levels, house characteristics, and sources were also investigated. The direct impact that two specific air infiltration reduction measures--caulking and weatherstripping of windows and doors, and installation of storm windows and storm doors--have on house air leakage was investigated in 60 homes. The effect of house age on the impact of weatherization was also evaluated. Indoor and outdoor measurements of NO 2 , CO, SO 2 , and respirable suspended particulates (RSP) were made for 400 homes to determine the effect of combustion sources on indoor air quality and to characterize the statistical distribution of the concentrations. Finally, the combustion source data were combined with the information on air infiltration reduction measures to estimate the potential impact of these measures on indoor air quality

40 CFR 51.860 - Mitigation of air quality impacts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Mitigation of air quality impacts. 51... Federal Actions to State or Federal Implementation Plans § 51.860 Mitigation of air quality impacts. Link... mitigate air quality impacts must be identified and the process for implementation and enforcement of such...

Future health impact assessment of air pollution at the global, European and Ile-de-France scales: the Air Pollution Climate Health Impact Assessment (A-C HIA) project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Likhvar, Victoria; Hauglustaine, Didier; Kinney, Patrick; Colette, Augustin; Valari, Myrto; Markakis, Konstandinos; Pascal, Mathilde; Medina, Sylvia

2016-01-01

Ozone and fine particles are current risk factors for premature death all over the globe. In coming decades, substantial improvements in public health may be achieved by reducing air pollution. The overall objective of the A-C HIA project (2011-2014) was to apply state of the art climate, air quality, and health modelling tools to assess future health impacts of O 3 and PM2.5 under different scenarios of emissions for the period 2030-2050. A-C HIA created an interdisciplinary team to study the impacts of climate change on health through air quality changes, and to establish longer-term collaborations between communities. This question has been explored at three spatial scales: global, regional (Europe), and urban (ile-de-France). We f ind that 1.5 millions of cardio-vascular deaths could be delayed each year in 2030 compared to 2010. In Europe, air-pollution-related mortality should decrease in 2030 compared to 2010. At the finer scale (ile-de-France) we found that the respiratory mortality should increase over the highly populated area of Paris. In the coming years, substantial benefits to public health could be achieved through coordinated strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and improving air quality. (authors)

Energy use, air infiltration, and indoor air quality in well-insulated residences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koontz, M.D.; Nagda, N.L.

1989-01-01

This paper reports two unoccupied bilevel houses of identical design and construction studied to determine the relationships among air exchange, energy consumption, and indoor air quality. The experimental house was retrofitted to increase building tightness and was equipped with an air-to-air heat exchanger; the control house was kept in its initial state of construction. Infiltration, energy, indoor air quality, and environmental parameters were monitored in both houses before and after the retrofit. It was found that the retrofit decreased air infiltration rates by nearly 25 percent, heating energy savings of 12 to 20 percent were achieved through the retrofit, and among the pollutants monitored, only radon and radon progeny increased in proportion to the reduced infiltration. Similarly, when the heat exchanger was operated, radon and radon progeny were the only pollutants reduced in proportion to the added air exchange

Importance and Challenges in Use and Uptake of Air Quality Modelling in Developing Countries: Use of CAMx for Air Quality Management in the City of Johannesburg.

Science.gov (United States)

Garland, R. M.; Naidoo, M.; Sibiya, B.; Naidoo, S.; Bird, T.; von Gruenewaldt, R.; Liebenberg-Enslin, H.; Nekhwalivhe, M.; Netshandama, J.; Mahlatji, M.

2017-12-01

Ambient air pollution levels are regulated in South Africa; however in many areas pollution concentrations exceed these levels. The South African Air Quality Act also stipulates that government across all levels must have Air Quality Management Plans (AQMP) in place that outline the current state of air quality and emissions, as well as the implementable plan to manage, and where necessary improve, air quality. Historically, dispersion models have been used to support air quality management decisions, including in AQMPs. However, with the focus of air quality management shifting from focusing on industrial point sources to a more integrated and holistic management of all sources, chemical transport models are needed. CAMx was used in the review and development of the City of Johannesburg's AQMP to simulate hot spots of air pollution, as well as to model intervention scenarios. As the pollutants of concern in Johannesburg are ozone and particulate matter, it is critical to use a model that can simulate chemistry. CAMx was run at 1 km with a locally derived emissions inventory for 2014. The sources of pollution in the City are diverse (including, industrial, vehicles, domestic burning, natural), and many sources have large uncertainties in estimating emissions due to lack of necessary data and local emission factors. These uncertainties, together with a lack of measurements to validate the model against, hinder the performance of the model to simulate air quality and thus inform air quality management. However, as air quality worsens in Africa, it is critical for decision makers to have a strong evidence base on the state of air quality and impact of interventions in order to improve air quality effectively. This presentation will highlight the findings from using a chemical transport model for air quality management in the largest city in South Africa, the use and limitations of these for decision-makers, and proposed way forward.

40 CFR 52.60 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... quality. 52.60 Section 52.60 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) All applications and other information required pursuant to § 52.21 from... “Guideline on Air Quality Models (Revised)” or other models approved by EPA. [42 FR 22869, May 5, 1977, as...

40 CFR 52.1436 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Significant deterioration of air quality. 52.1436 Section 52.1436 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... Significant deterioration of air quality. The requirements of sections 160 through 165 of the Clean Air Act...

40 CFR 81.111 - Georgetown Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Regions § 81.111 Georgetown Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Georgetown Intrastate Air Quality Control Region (South Carolina) consists of the territorial area encompassed by the... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Georgetown Intrastate Air Quality...

40 CFR 81.107 - Greenwood Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Regions § 81.107 Greenwood Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Greenwood Intrastate Air Quality Control Region (South Carolina) consists of the territorial area encompassed by the... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Greenwood Intrastate Air Quality...

40 CFR 81.108 - Columbia Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Regions § 81.108 Columbia Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Columbia Intrastate Air Quality Control Region (South Carolina) consists of the territorial area encompassed by the... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Columbia Intrastate Air Quality...

40 CFR 81.109 - Florence Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Regions § 81.109 Florence Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Florence Intrastate Air Quality Control Region (South Carolina) consists of the territorial area encompassed by the... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Florence Intrastate Air Quality...

40 CFR 81.51 - Portland Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Regions § 81.51 Portland Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Portland Interstate Air Quality Control Region (Oregon-Washington) has been revised to consist of the territorial area... Portland Interstate Air Quality Control Region (Oregon-Washington) will be referred to by Washington...

40 CFR 81.35 - Louisville Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Regions § 81.35 Louisville Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Louisville Interstate Air Quality Control Region (Kentucky-Indiana) consists of the territorial area encompassed by the... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Louisville Interstate Air Quality...

Wireless Sensor Network for Indoor Air Quality Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun Li

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Indoor air quality monitoring system consists of wireless sensor device, nRF24L01 wireless transceiver modules, C8051MCU, STM32103 remote monitoring platform, alarm device and data server. Distributed in the interior space of wireless sensors measure parameters of the local air quality, wireless transceiver module of the MCU to transmit data to the remote monitoring platform for analysis which displayed and stored field environment data or charts. The data collecting from wireless sensors to be send by wireless Access Point to the remote data server based on B/S architecture, intelligent terminals such as mobile phone, laptop, tablet PC on the Internet monitor indoor air quality in real-time. When site environment air quality index data exceeds the threshold in the monitoring device, the remote monitoring platform sends out the alarm SMS signal to inform user by GSM module. Indoor air quality monitoring system uses modular design method, has the portability and scalability has the low manufacture cost, real-time monitoring data and man-machine interaction.

Global Air Quality and Health Co-benefits of Mitigating Near-term Climate Change Through Methane and Black Carbon Emission Controls

Science.gov (United States)

Anenberg, Susan C.; Schwartz, Joel; Shindell, Drew Todd; Amann, Markus; Faluvegi, Gregory S.; Klimont, Zbigniew; Janssens-Maenhout, Greet; Pozzoli, Luca; Dingenen, Rita Van; Vignati, Elisabetta;

Perceived indoor air quality and its relationship to air pollutants in French dwellings.

Science.gov (United States)

Langer, S; Ramalho, O; Le Ponner, E; Derbez, M; Kirchner, S; Mandin, C

2017-11-01

Perception of indoor air quality (PIAQ) was evaluated in a nationwide survey of 567 French dwellings, and this survey was combined with measurements of gaseous and particulate matter (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ) indoor air pollutants and indoor climate parameters. The perception was assessed on a nine-grade scale by both the occupants of the dwellings and the inspectors who performed the measurements. The occupants perceived the air quality in their homes as more pleasant than the inspectors. The inspectors perceived the air quality as more unpleasant in dwellings in which the residents smoked indoors. Significant associations between PIAQ and indoor air pollutant concentrations were observed for both the inspectors and, to a lesser extent, the occupants. Introducing confounding parameters, such as building and personal characteristics, into a multivariate model suppressed most of the observed bivariate correlations and identified the tenure status of the occupants and their occupation as the parameters that most influenced their PIAQ. For the inspectors, perceived air quality was affected by the presence of smokers, the season, the type of ventilation, retrofitting, and the concentrations of acetaldehyde and acrolein. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Impact of air quality guidelines on COPD sufferers

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Youcheng; Yan, Shuang; Poh, Karen; Liu, Suyang; Iyioriobhe, Emanehi; Sterling, David A

2016-01-01

Background COPD is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in both high- and low-income countries and a major public health burden worldwide. While cigarette smoking remains the main cause of COPD, outdoor and indoor air pollution are important risk factors to its etiology. Although studies over the last 30 years helped reduce the values, it is not very clear if the current air quality guidelines are adequately protective for COPD sufferers. Objective This systematic review was to summarize the up-to-date literature on the impact of air pollution on the COPD sufferers. Methods PubMed and Google Scholar were utilized to search for articles related to our study’s focus. Search terms included “COPD exacerbation”, “air pollution”, “air quality guidelines”, “air quality standards”, “COPD morbidity and mortality”, “chronic bronchitis”, and “air pollution control” separately and in combination. We focused on articles from 1990 to 2015. We also used articles prior to 1990 if they contained relevant information. We focused on articles written in English or with an English abstract. We also used the articles in the reference lists of the identified articles. Results Both short-term and long-term exposures to outdoor air pollution around the world are associated with the mortality and morbidity of COPD sufferers even at levels below the current air quality guidelines. Biomass cooking in low-income countries was clearly associated with COPD morbidity in adult nonsmoking females. Conclusion There is a need to continue to improve the air quality guidelines. A range of intervention measures could be selected at different levels based on countries’ socioeconomic conditions to reduce the air pollution exposure and COPD burden. PMID:27143874

40 CFR 52.884 - Significant deterioration of air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Significant deterioration of air quality. 52.884 Section 52.884 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR... deterioration of air quality. (a) The requirements of section 160 through 165 of the Clean Air Act, as amended...

Improving Indoor Air Quality

Science.gov (United States)

Usually the most effective way to improve indoor air quality is to eliminate individual sources of pollution or to reduce their emissions. Some sources, like those that contain asbestos, can be sealed or enclosed.

The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kemp, K.; Palmgren, F.; Manscher, O. H.

The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme (LMP) was started in 1982 as the first nation-wide urban air pollution monitoring programme in Denmark. The programme has been adjusted to the pollution pattern by two revisions. The present phase (LMP III) was started in 1992. This report presents...... Copenhagen the same program is con-ducted as at the street stations with the inclusion of O3. Only NO, NO2 and O3 are reported from the other rural site. Air quality limit values have been implemented in Den-mark for NO2, SO2, TSP in order to protect human health. All limit values are based on EU limit...

40 CFR 81.42 - Chattanooga Interstate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Quality Control Regions § 81.42 Chattanooga Interstate Air Quality Control Region. The Chattanooga Interstate Air Quality Control Region (Georgia-Tennessee) has been revised to consist of the territorial area... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Chattanooga Interstate Air Quality...

Standards and laws for indoor air quality in Russia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bitkolov, N.; Musijchuk, Y.

1997-01-01

The air quality of indoor air in Russia, including the special problems of air quality with regard to radioactive contamination, is determined by a number of statutes, standards and regulations. All these are based on the biological principles that the maximum allowable concentrations of pollutants (MAC) and the prescribed radioactive safety dose limits should not be exceeded. The standards cover the air in the working zones of all ministries and departments, and are for trade unions, public and cooperative organisations and foundations. The basic Russian law for air quality is 'The Law on Environmental Nature Protection' (19.2.1991) which assures the right to health protection from adverse environmental effects. In the field of radioactive safety 'The Federal Law on Radioactive Safety' (9.1.1996) is the primary law and in accordance with it, every citizen living in Russia has the right to protection for the present and future generations from health-related deleterious effects of atomic radiation. The laws on air quality are part of the Russian Federation legal system and are secured in the Constitution. The air quality must be controlled by the Goscomgidromet and the Sunepidnadzor of Russia. In compliance with these laws everybody has the right to a favourable environment and the duty to protect, preserve and maintain it. The air environment is unique and common to all, thus economic cooperation dictates that a dedicated approach to air quality and air quality regulations would be the most appropriate way to preserve it. It appears judicious to join forces in the name of European ecological safety. To do this, it is necessary to combine the national means and secure. (author) 4 figs

The Aeroflex: A Bicycle for Mobile Air Quality Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Elen, Bart; Peters, Jan; Van Poppel, Martine; Bleux, Nico; Theunis, Jan; Reggente, Matteo; Standaert, Arnout

2013-01-01

Fixed air quality stations have limitations when used to assess people's real life exposure to air pollutants. Their spatial coverage is too limited to capture the spatial variability in, e.g., an urban or industrial environment. Complementary mobile air quality measurements can be used as an additional tool to fill this void. In this publication we present the Aeroflex, a bicycle for mobile air quality monitoring. The Aeroflex is equipped with compact air quality measurement devices to monitor ultrafine particle number counts, particulate mass and black carbon concentrations at a high resolution (up to 1 second). Each measurement is automatically linked to its geographical location and time of acquisition using GPS and Internet time. Furthermore, the Aeroflex is equipped with automated data transmission, data pre-processing and data visualization. The Aeroflex is designed with adaptability, reliability and user friendliness in mind. Over the past years, the Aeroflex has been successfully used for high resolution air quality mapping, exposure assessment and hot spot identification. PMID:23262484

Visual air quality simulation techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Molenar, John V.; Malm, William C.; Johnson, Christopher E.

Visual air quality is primarily a human perceptual phenomenon beginning with the transfer of image-forming information through an illuminated, scattering and absorbing atmosphere. Visibility, especially the visual appearance of industrial emissions or the degradation of a scenic view, is the principal atmospheric characteristic through which humans perceive air pollution, and is more sensitive to changing pollution levels than any other air pollution effect. Every attempt to quantify economic costs and benefits of air pollution has indicated that good visibility is a highly valued and desired environmental condition. Measurement programs can at best approximate the state of the ambient atmosphere at a few points in a scenic vista viewed by an observer. To fully understand the visual effect of various changes in the concentration and distribution of optically important atmospheric pollutants requires the use of aerosol and radiative transfer models. Communication of the output of these models to scientists, decision makers and the public is best done by applying modern image-processing systems to generate synthetic images representing the modeled air quality conditions. This combination of modeling techniques has been under development for the past 15 yr. Initially, visual air quality simulations were limited by a lack of computational power to simplified models depicting Gaussian plumes or uniform haze conditions. Recent explosive growth in low cost, high powered computer technology has allowed the development of sophisticated aerosol and radiative transfer models that incorporate realistic terrain, multiple scattering, non-uniform illumination, varying spatial distribution, concentration and optical properties of atmospheric constituents, and relative humidity effects on aerosol scattering properties. This paper discusses these improved models and image-processing techniques in detail. Results addressing uniform and non-uniform layered haze conditions in both

Ecoflex: Improving air quality with green dynamic traffic management based on real time air quality measurements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Baalen, J. van; Koning, A. de; Voogt, M.; Stelwagen, U.; Turksma, S.

2011-01-01

Across the world, air quality regulations are breached due to localized high pollution episodes in specific locations, or "hotspots". Advances in air pollution monitoring techniques enable hotspots to be identified more effectively; however challenges remain as to how best to reduce the incidence

Enhanced data validation strategy of air quality monitoring network.

Science.gov (United States)

Harkat, Mohamed-Faouzi; Mansouri, Majdi; Nounou, Mohamed; Nounou, Hazem

2018-01-01

Quick validation and detection of faults in measured air quality data is a crucial step towards achieving the objectives of air quality networks. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are threefold: (i) to develop a modeling technique that can be used to predict the normal behavior of air quality variables and help provide accurate reference for monitoring purposes; (ii) to develop fault detection method that can effectively and quickly detect any anomalies in measured air quality data. For this purpose, a new fault detection method that is based on the combination of generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) will be developed. GLRT is a well-known statistical fault detection method that relies on maximizing the detection probability for a given false alarm rate. In this paper, we propose to develop GLRT-based EWMA fault detection method that will be able to detect the changes in the values of certain air quality variables; (iii) to develop fault isolation and identification method that allows defining the fault source(s) in order to properly apply appropriate corrective actions. In this paper, reconstruction approach that is based on Midpoint-Radii Principal Component Analysis (MRPCA) model will be developed to handle the types of data and models associated with air quality monitoring networks. All air quality modeling, fault detection, fault isolation and reconstruction methods developed in this paper will be validated using real air quality data (such as particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen and carbon oxides measurement). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of chemical lateral boundary conditions in a regional air quality forecast model on surface ozone predictions during stratospheric intrusions

Science.gov (United States)

Pendlebury, Diane; Gravel, Sylvie; Moran, Michael D.; Lupu, Alexandru

2018-02-01

A regional air quality forecast model, GEM-MACH, is used to examine the conditions under which a limited-area air quality model can accurately forecast near-surface ozone concentrations during stratospheric intrusions. Periods in 2010 and 2014 with known stratospheric intrusions over North America were modelled using four different ozone lateral boundary conditions obtained from a seasonal climatology, a dynamically-interpolated monthly climatology, global air quality forecasts, and global air quality reanalyses. It is shown that the mean bias and correlation in surface ozone over the course of a season can be improved by using time-varying ozone lateral boundary conditions, particularly through the correct assignment of stratospheric vs. tropospheric ozone along the western lateral boundary (for North America). Part of the improvement in surface ozone forecasts results from improvements in the characterization of near-surface ozone along the lateral boundaries that then directly impact surface locations near the boundaries. However, there is an additional benefit from the correct characterization of the location of the tropopause along the western lateral boundary such that the model can correctly simulate stratospheric intrusions and their associated exchange of ozone from stratosphere to troposphere. Over a three-month period in spring 2010, the mean bias was seen to improve by as much as 5 ppbv and the correlation by 0.1 depending on location, and on the form of the chemical lateral boundary condition.

Air quality in Swedish cities; Luftkvalitet i taetorter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sjoeberg, Karin; Persson, Karin; Lagerstroem, Malin [Swedish Environmental Research Inst., Goeteborg (Sweden); Brodin, Yngve [Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Stockholm (Sweden)

2004-02-01

Air quality in Swedish cities has improved considerably over the last decades as a result of reduced emissions from traffic, industrial activity and households. The situation is however far from acceptable, and no further improvement is seen during recent years. Urban air pollution is considered to contribute to the death of more than a thousand people in Sweden each year. Measurements of air quality in Swedish cities are carried out since many years. The measurements have shown that concentrations of all serious air pollutants but ozone have decreased strongly since the 1980s. The improvement is attributed to reduced emissions from motor traffic by means of catalytic converters and cleaner fuels as well as decreased emissions from industrial activity and energy production in Sweden and neighbouring countries. The present report does however show no further downward trend for concentrations of air pollutants in Swedish cities since the late 1990s, and the concentrations of the winter 2002/2003 were higher than several previous winters. This information is gained from measurements done by around forty municipalities and gathered within the so called URBAN-measurement-net managed by the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, and additional information from around ten municipalities which perform own measurements. Climatic variability may play an important role for the increase seen in the winter of 2002/2003, but it is also probable that continuously increasing traffic have counteracted some of the ameliorative environmental effects of improved exhaust emission control and cleaner petrol and diesel fuels. Measurements of the winter 2002/2003 show that air quality conditions are unacceptable in perhaps half of the Swedish cities, and that they run the risk of not being able to attain environmental quality standards for one or more substances. The standards for particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide are those most difficult to manage within the time limits set

40 CFR 81.29 - Metropolitan Indianapolis Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Air Quality Control Region. 81.29 Section 81.29 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... Designation of Air Quality Control Regions § 81.29 Metropolitan Indianapolis Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Metropolitan Indianapolis Intrastate Air Quality Control Region consists of the territorial...