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Ambient Tropospheric Particles
Citation:
SOLOMON, P. A. AND D. L. COSTA. Ambient Tropospheric Particles. Second, Chapter 2, Particle-Lung Interactions. Informa Healthcare USA, New York, NY, , 17-37, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD′s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA′s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is a complex mixture of solid and liquid particles suspended in ambient air (also known as the atmospheric aerosol). Ambient PM arises from a wide-range of sources and/or processes, and consists of particles of different shapes, sizes, and compositions, with an array of physicochemical properties (see for example, 1,2). Because particle size best relates to particle aerodynamics, diameter is most often used when describing ambient PM, most notably with regards to its atmospheric transport, lung deposition, and sampling for scientific or regulatory purposes. Particulate matter of most interest to health scientists are those that are considered inhalable, that is, they enter human airways including but especially beyond the nose and mouth. This chapter examines in more detail sampling methods, physicochemical characteristics, and sources of UF, fine, and coarse PM since these size modes are presently of most interest to the health community.