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Spatial Analysis and Land Use Regression of VOCs and NO2 in Dallas, Texas during Two Seasons
Citation:
SMITH, L., S. MUKERJEE, K. CHUNG, AND J. AFGHANI. Spatial Analysis and Land Use Regression of VOCs and NO2 in Dallas, Texas during Two Seasons. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, Uk, 13(4):999-1007, (2011).
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:
Passive air sampling for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and select volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was conducted at 24 fire stations and a compliance monitoring site in Dallas, Texas, USA during summer 2006 and winter 2008. This ambient air monitoring network was established to assess intra-urban gradients of air pollutants to evaluate the impact of traffic and urban emissions on air quality. Ambient air monitoring and GIS data from spatially representative fire station sites were collected to assess spatial variability. Pairwise comparisons were conducted on the ambient data from the selected sites based on city section. These weeklong samples yielded NO2 and benzene levels that were generally higher during the winter than the summer. With respect to the location within the city, the central section of Dallas was generally higher for NO2 and benzene than north and south. Land use regression (LUR) results revealed spatial gradients in NO2 and selected VOCs in the central and some northern areas. The process used to select spatially representative sites for air sampling and the results of analyses of coarse- and fine-scale spatial variability of air pollutants on a seasonal basis provide insights to guide future ambient air exposure studies in assessing intra-urban gradients and traffic impacts.
URLs/Downloads:
Spatial Analysis and Land Use Regression of VOCs and NO2 in Dallas, Texas during Two Seasons (PDF, NA pp, 5903 KB, about PDF)Journal of Environmental Monitoring
