Simulating the fine and coarse inorganic particulate matter concentrations in a polluted megacity

A three dimensional chemical transport model (PMCAMx) is applied to the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) in order to simulate the chemical composition and mass of the major PM₁ (fine) and PM_1–10 (coarse) inorganic components and determine the effect of mineral dust on their formation. The aerosol thermodynamic model ISORROPIA-II is used to explicitly simulate the effect of Ca, Mg, and K from dust on semi-volatile partitioning and water uptake. The hybrid approach is applied to simulate the inorganic components, assuming that the smallest particles are in thermodynamic equilibrium, while describing the mass transfer to and from the larger ones. The official MCMA 2004 emissions inventory with improved dust and NaCl emissions is used. The comparison between the model predictions and measurements during a week of April of 2003 at Centro Nacional de Investigacion y Capacitacion Ambiental (CENICA) “Supersite” shows that the model reproduces reasonably well the fine mode composition and its diurnal variation. Sulfate predicted levels are relatively uniform in the area (approximately 3 μg m^?3), while ammonium nitrate peaks in Mexico City (approximately 7 μg m^?3) and its concentration rapidly decreases due to dilution and evaporation away from the urban area. In areas of high dust concentrations, the associated alkalinity is predicted to increase the concentration of nitrate, chloride and ammonium in the coarse mode by up to 2 μg m^?3 (a factor of 10), 0.4 μg m^?3, and 0.6 μg m^?3 (75%), respectively. The predicted ammonium nitrate levels inside Mexico City for this period are sensitive to the physical state (solid versus liquid) of the particles during periods with RH less than 50%.     

Characterisation of particulate exposure during fireworks displays

Little is known about the level and content of exposure to fine particles (PM_2.5) among persons who attend fireworks displays and those who live nearby. An evaluation of the levels of PM_2.5 and their elemental content was carried out during the nine launches of the 2007 Montréal International Fireworks Competition. For each event, a prediction of the location of the firework plume was obtained from the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC) of the Meteorological Service of Canada. PM_2.5 was measured continuously with a photometer (Sidepak?, TSI) within the predicted plume location (“predicted sites”), and integrated samples were collected using portable personal samplers. An additional sampler was located on a nearby roof (“fixed site”). The elemental composition of the collected PM_2.5 samples from the “predicted sites” was determined using both a non-destructive energy dispersive ED-XRF method and an ICP-MS method with a near-total microwave-assisted acid digestion. The elemental composition of the “fixed site” samples was determined by the ICP-MS with the near-total digestion method. The highest PM_2.5 levels reached nearly 10 000 μg m^?3, roughly 1000 times background levels. Elements such as K, Cl, Al, Mg and Ti were markedly higher in plume-exposed filters. This study shows that 1) persons in the plume and in close proximity to the launch site may be exposed to extremely high levels of PM_2.5 for the duration of the display and, 2) that the plume contains specific elements for which little is known of their acute cardio-respiratory toxicity.     

A new condensed toluene mechanism for Carbon Bond: CB05-TU

Toluene is ubiquitous in urban atmospheres and is a precursor to tropospheric ozone and aerosol (smog). An important characteristic of toluene chemistry is the tendency of some degradation products (e.g., cresols and methyl-catechols) to form organic nitro and nitrate compounds that sequester NOx (NO and NO₂) from active participation in smog formation. Explaining the NOx sinks in toluene degradation has made mechanism development more difficult for toluene than for many other organic compounds. Another challenge for toluene is explaining sources of radicals early in the degradation process. This paper describes the development of a new condensed toluene mechanism consisting of 26 reactions, and evaluates the performance of CB05 with this new toluene scheme (Toluene Update, TU) against 38 chamber experiments at 7 different environmental chambers, and provides recommendations for future developments. CB05 with the current toluene mechanism (CB05-Base) under-predicted the maximum O₃ and O₃ production rate for many of these toluene–NOx chamber experiments, especially under low-NOx conditions ([NOx]_t=0 < 100 ppb). CB05 with the new toluene mechanism (CB05-TU) includes changes to the yields and reactions of cresols and ring-opening products, and showed better performance than CB05-Base in predicting the maximum O₃, O₃ formation rate, NOx removal rate and cresol concentration. Additional environmental chamber simulations with xylene–NOx experiments showed that the TU mechanism updates tended to improve mechanism performance for xylene.     

Critical Steps for Continuing Advancement of Satellite Rainfall Applications for Surface Hydrology in the Nile River Basin1

Gebremichael, Mekonnen, Emmanouil N. Anagnostou, and Menberu M. Bitew, 2010. Critical Steps for Continuing Advancement of Satellite Rainfall Applications for Surface Hydrology in the Nile River Basin. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(2):361-366. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00428.x. Abstract: Given the increasingly higher resolution and data accessibility, satellite precipitation products could be useful for hydrological application in the Nile River Basin, which is characterized by lack of reasonably dense hydrological in situ sensors and lack of access to the existing dataset. However, in the absence of both extreme caution and research results for the Nile basin, the satellite rainfall (SR) products may not be used, or may even be used erroneously. We identify two steps that are critical to enhance the value of SR products for hydrological applications in the Nile basin. The first step is to establish representative validation sites in the Nile basin. The validation site will help to quantify the errors in the different kinds of SR products, which will be used to select the best products for the Nile basin, include the errors in decision making, and design strategies to minimize the errors. Using rainfall measurements collected from the unprecedented high-density rain gauge network over a small region within the Nile basin, we indicate that SR estimates could be subject to significant errors, and quantification of estimation errors by way of establishing validation sites is critically important in order to use the SR products. The second step is to identify the degree of hydrologic model complexity required to obtain more accurate hydrologic simulation results for the Nile basin when using SR products as input. The level of model complexity may depend on basin size and SR algorithm, and further research is needed to spell out this dependence for the Nile basin.     

Airborne molds and mycotoxins associated with handling of corn silage and oilseed cakes in agricultural environment

In agricultural areas, the contamination of feedstuffs with molds and mycotoxins presents major environmental and health concerns. During cattle feeding, fungi and mycotoxins were monitored in corn silage, oilseed cakes and bioaerosols collected in Normandy. Most of the corn silages were found to be contaminated by deoxynivalenol (mean concentration: 1883 μg kg^?1) while a few of oilseed cakes were contaminated by alternariol, fumonisin B₁ or gliotoxin. In ambient bioaerosols, the values for fungi per cubic meter of air varied from 4.3 × 10² to 6.2 × 10⁵ cfu m^?3. Seasonal variations were observed with some species like Aspergillus fumigatus which significantly decreased between the 2 seasons (P = 0.0186) while the Penicillium roqueforti group significantly increased during the second season (P = 0.0156). In the personal bioaerosols, the values for fungi per cubic meter of air varied from 3.3 10³ to 1.7 10⁶ cfu m^?3 and the number of A. fumigatus spores significantly decreased between the 2 seasons (P = 0.0488). Gliotoxin, an immunosuppressive mycotoxin, was quantified in 3 personal filters at 3.73 μg m^?3, 1.09 μg m^?3 and 2.97 μg m^?3.     

Uncertainty in health risks due to anthropogenic primary fine particulate matter from different source types in Finland

The emission-exposure and exposure-response (toxicity) relationships are different for different emission source categories of anthropogenic primary fine particulate matter (PM_2.5). These variations have a potentially crucial importance in the integrated assessment, when determining cost-effective abatement strategies. We studied the importance of these variations by conducting a sensitivity analysis for an integrated assessment model. The model was developed to estimate the adverse health effects to the Finnish population attributable to primary PM_2.5 emissions from the whole of Europe. The primary PM_2.5 emissions in the whole of Europe and in more detail in Finland were evaluated using the inventory of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) and the Finnish Regional Emission Scenario model (FRES), respectively. The emission-exposure relationships for different primary PM_2.5 emission source categories in Finland have been previously evaluated and these values incorporated as intake fractions into the integrated assessment model. The primary PM_2.5 exposure-response functions and toxicity differences for the pollution originating from different source categories were estimated in an expert elicitation study performed by six European experts on air pollution health effects. The primary PM_2.5 emissions from Finnish and other European sources were estimated for the population of Finland in 2000 to be responsible for 209 (mean, 95% confidence interval 6–739) and 357 (mean, 95% CI 8–1482) premature deaths, respectively. The inclusion of emission-exposure and toxicity variation into the model increased the predicted relative importance of traffic related primary PM_2.5 emissions and correspondingly, decreased the predicted relative importance of other emission source categories. We conclude that the variations of emission-exposure relationship and toxicity between various source categories had significant impacts for the assessment on premature deaths caused by primary PM_2.5.     

Spatial variability of carbonaceous aerosols and associated source tracers in two cites in the Midwestern United States

Semi-continuous and 24-h averaged measurements of fine carbonaceous aerosols were made concurrently at three sites within each of two U.S. Midwestern Cities; Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio; during two, one-month intensive campaigns conducted in July of 2007 and January & February of 2008. A comparison of 24-h measurements revealed substantial intra-urban variability in carbonaceous aerosols consistent with the influence of local sources, and excesses in both PM_2.5 organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) were identified at individual sites within each city. High time-resolved black carbon (BC) measurements indicated that elemental carbon concentrations were higher at sites adjacent to freeways and busy surface streets, and temporal patterns suggested that excess EC at sites adjacent to freeways was dominated by mobile source emissions while excesses in EC away from traffic corridors was dominated by point/area source emissions. The site-to-site variability in OC concentrations was approximately 7% within the neighborhood scale (0.5–4 km) and between 4 and 27% at the urban scale (4–100 km). In contrast, measurements of organic source tracers, in conjunction with a Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) source-apportionment model, indicated that the spatial variation in the contribution of both mobile and stationary sources to PM_2.5 OC often exceeded the variation in OC mass concentration by a factor of 3 or more. Markers for mobile sources, biomass smoke, natural gas, and coal combustion differed by as much as 60% within the neighborhood scale and by greater than 200% within the urban scale. The observations made during this study suggest that the urban excess of carbonaceous aerosols is much more complex than has been previously reported and that a more rigorous, source-oriented approach should be taken in order to assess the risk associated with exposure to carbonaceous aerosols within the industrialized environments of the Midwestern United States.     

Ambient TSP concentration and dustfall in major cities of China: Spatial distribution and temporal variability

Based on environmental monitoring data in 93 major cities and meteorological records at 398 weather stations in China from 1981 to 2007, total suspended particle (TSP) concentration, the intensity of dustfall, and sand and dust storm frequency (F_d) were analysed. During the past 27 years, the annual average TSP concentration (C_TSP) in 93 cities was 402 μg m^?3. Annual average C_TSP decreased from the north to the south and from inland to the coast areas with a peak value of 628.8 μg m^?3 in Lanzhou. In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, annual average C_TSP was 628.7, 319.2, and 250.1 μg m^?3, respectively. Annual average intensity of dustfall (I_d) was 240.5 t km^?2 a^?1, decreased from northern to southern China and from inland to the coast areas with the maximum value of 717.2 t km^?2 a^?1 in Baotou. In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, annual average I_d was 334.8, 220.9, 146 t km^?2 a^?1 respectively. Annual average I_d in the Loess Plateau region was commonly higher than 200 t km^?2 a^?1. The annual average F_d decreased from arid regions in northwestern China to humid areas in southeastern China with two sand and sand storm centers existing in Xinjiang Taklamakan Desert and western Inner Mongolia. The annual average F_d in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s was 16, 8, 6 days respectively, decreased steadily from 18 days in 1981–5 days in 2007. Annual average I_d had a positive linear relation to annual average C_TSP (R² = 0.96). Annual average F_d had a positive relation with annual average C_TSP (R² = 0.97) as well as annual average I_d (R² = 0.94). TSP was the chief pollutant influencing Air Pollution Index (API) in northern China in spring and winter seasons. Sand and dust storm might be a major factor affecting the temporal variability and spatial distribution of TSP and dustfall in China.     

Comprehensive analysis of the carbon impacts of vehicle intelligent speed control

In recent years sophisticated technologies have been developed to control vehicle speed based on the type of road the vehicle is driven on using Global Positioning Systems and in-car technology that can alter the speed of the vehicle. While reducing the speed of road vehicles is primarily of interest from a safety perspective, vehicle speed is also an important determinant of vehicle emissions and thus these technologies can be expected to have impacts on a range of exhaust emissions. This work analyses the results from a very large, comprehensive field trial that used 20 instrumented vehicles with and without speed control driven almost 500,000 km measuring vehicle speed at 10 Hz. We develop individual vehicle modal emissions models for CO₂ for 30 Euro III and Euro IV cars at a 1-Hz time resolution. Generalized Additive Models were used to describe how emissions from individual vehicles vary depending on their driving conditions, taking account of variable interactions and time-lag effects. We quantify the impact that vehicle speed control has on-vehicle emissions of CO₂ by road type, fuel type and driver behaviour. Savings in CO₂ of ≈6% were found on average for motorway-type roads when mandatory speed control was used compared with base case conditions. For most other types of road, speed control has very little effect on emissions of CO₂ and in some cases can result in increased emissions for low-speed limit urban roads. We also find that there is on average a 20% difference in CO₂ emission between the lowest and highest emitting driver, which highlights the importance of driver behaviour in general as a means of reducing emissions of CO₂.