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The DEARS Data Analysis Workshops: Summary of Findings and Discussions
Citation:
WILLIAMS, R. W. The DEARS Data Analysis Workshops: Summary of Findings and Discussions. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-11/048 (NTIS PB2011-110657), 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:
The Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) was a three-year study conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Office of Research and Development’s National Exposure Research Laboratory (EPA/ORD/NERL). Field data collections were completed in 2007 and validation of the primary datasets was completed in late 2008. The study’s primary goal was to investigate the relationship of select air pollutant concentrations and their sources measured at community air monitoring stations in comparison to those measured in various neighborhoods in Wayne County, Michigan. Six primary data analysis objectives were components of the original study design (www.epa.gov/dears). These original data analysis objectives were to: (1) characterize spatial and temporal relationships between pollutants, (2) determine human exposure factors, (3) determine environmental exposure factors, (4) develop enhanced human exposure models, (5) establish source contributions, and (6) investigate multi-pollutant (particulate matter/gases/semi-volatiles) relationships. The study was designed to significantly contribute to our understanding of how well air quality information collected at community monitors accurately reflects what neighborhoods and the individuals living in these neighborhoods are exposed to every day. It would provide needed information on defining what factors affect an individual's exposure to various particulate matter and air toxic sources. Exposure-related data from the DEARS can be divided into five main parts: (1) personal monitoring, (2) residential indoor monitoring, (3) residential outdoor monitoring, (4) monitoring performed at a central community site, and (5) survey information related to environmental and human exposure factors. The personal and residential monitoring involved a total of 145 participants over a three-year period of data collection. A total of nearly 36,000 individual 24-hr based exposure measurements involving particulate matter, criteria pollutant gases and other air pollutants of interest were obtained during the field measurements. NERL and its collaborators have been actively analyzing data to support the six original data analysis objectives. A detailed summary of the six objectives, progress to date, ongoing analyses, and current data summarization products was recently developed and made available on the DEARS website (www.epa.gov/dears/findings.html). This summary was useful in assisting the NERL in determining the overall progress being made on the study as a whole as well as gaining a perspective on study areas showing potential for unanticipated research benefits to ORD and its stakeholders. These stakeholders include among others, the National Center for Exposure Assessment (NCEA), the Office of Air Quality, Planning and Standards (OAQPS), the Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ), US EPA Region 5, and the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL). NERL has been actively sharing DEARS data with both internal and external collaborators in pursuit of the study objectives. Significant progress had been made on data analyses during the 2008-2010 calendar periods and information updating key collaborating institutions of these analyses would be beneficial to all parties. A workshop setting was proposed where DEARS progress-to-date could be shared and where potential new uses of exposure data to meet critical EPA needs could be explored.