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PREFACE TO SPECIAL SECTION ON PARTICULATE MATTER SUPERSITES
Citation:
PANDIS, S. N., P. A. SOLOMON, AND R. SCHEFFE. PREFACE TO SPECIAL SECTION ON PARTICULATE MATTER SUPERSITES. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH: ATMOSPHERES. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 110:1-3, (2005).
Impact/Purpose:
The PM Supersites Program is an ambient monitoring program intended to address the scientific uncertainties associated with fine particulate matter. The main objectives of the Supersites Program are as follows: 1) characterize particulate matter in a way that contributes to the understanding of source-receptor relationships and supports development of State Implementation Plans (SIPs), 2) develop and test advanced measurement methods for potential use in national monitoring networks, and 3) support health and exposure studies by providing detailed chemical and physical data at one or more central monitoring sites.
The specific objectives of this task are to provide scientific review and coordination of the technical aspects of the Supersites Program. This includes coordination among all Supersites projects and other projects which support Supersites objectives, overseeing of the data management, and coordinating the communication of data analysis and modeling results to the scientific community and other stakeholders. Products include a number of peer-reviewed journal articles (approaching 200 or more), final reports from each project, a relational database than includes not only Supersites data, but most aerometric data collected in the continental US and SE Canada during the period July 2001 to August 2002, and a policy relevant findings synthesis entitled Key and Policy Relevant Findings from the Supersites Program and Related Studies. Also supporting the synthesis is a major international conference where results will be presented from air quality methods, measurements, modeling, and data analysis studies with similar objectives to the Supersites program and during the time period of the Supersites Program, i.e., the last 5-7 years.
Description:
An improved understanding of the key sources, development of the most cost/effective control strategies, and health risks associated with PM2.5 requires high-quality measurements of PM2.5 composition, size and, concentration over a variety of spatial and temporal scales. However, measurement methods for PM2.5, capable of resolving size and composition, had not been thoroughly evaluated when the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM2.5 was established, nor previously deployed in regulatory monitoring networks. In response to this need, EPA embarked in 1999 on an ambient monitoring research program, commonly referred to as the Particulate Matter Supersites Program.
A Phase I Supersites Program special issue describing results from Atlanta is published (Solomon et al., 2003). The first Phase II Supersites Program special issue is published in Aerosol Science and Technology (Solomon and Allen, 2004) and the second in Atmospheric Environment (Solomon, 2004). This collection of papers, which represents the third coordinated publication of results from the Supersites Program, and addresses the key objectives of the program - to characterize particulate matter, to provide information supporting health effects and exposure research, and to develop new methods for characterizing fine particulate matter. Papers describe results from Supersites Projects in Pittsburgh, PA; Los Angeles, CA; Baltimore, MD; Houston, TX; Atlanta, GA; the North-East Oxidant and Particle Study (NE-OPS); modeling papers using data from Pittsburgh and Atlanta, and a paper examining continuous PM mass methods in Los Angeles, CA and Lindon, UT. Additional coordinated publications of research results are planned to continue to allow the science and policy communities interested in airborne PM to effectively monitor the advances in understanding PM in air made through the Supersites Program.