You are here:
Using Models to Enhance Exposure Characterization for Air Pollution Health Studies
Citation:
GARCIA, V. AND S. Beevers. Using Models to Enhance Exposure Characterization for Air Pollution Health Studies. EM: AIR AND WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION'S MAGAZINE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGERS. Air & Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, November 2011:28-32, (2011).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD′s research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the Nation′s air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollution problem, but also in developing emission control policies and regulations for air quality improvements.
Description:
The United States and the United Kingdom are faced with increasing challenges in determining the human health impact of air pollutants emitted locally. Often, these pollutants can be toxic at relatively low doses, are highly reactive, or generate large gradients across space because of the nature or extent of their local sources (e.g., roadways). Thus, typical monitoring strategies may not correctly characterize the exposure of a population to some hazardous pollutants. This article discusses the need for spatially resolving some pollutant concentration estimates across metropolitan areas for use in human health studies and the value of using models to better understand and characterize these exposures. Models can be used to better understand pollutant sources (e.g., local vs. regional, extent of exposure buffers around sources, influence of meteorology) and they can be used to provide refined estimates across a metropolitan area for health studies and regulatory assessments. This article presents two examples—Baltimore and London—to demonstrate how models can inform our understanding of exposure to nitrogen oxides (NOx). Such evaluations may become increasingly critical as the larger, regional sources of pollution are controlled and we are faced with understanding the health impacts of pollutants that expose populations inequitably across smaller, but more densely populated areas. Furthermore, the exposure and resulting health impacts of air pollution in these densely populated metropolitan areas may be better assessed by characterizing this intra-city spatial variability in combination with the more typical inter-city (or across-city) studies.
URLs/Downloads:
EM Magazine
Using Models to Enhance Exposure Characterization for Air Pollution Health Studies (PDF, NA pp, 1471 KB, about PDF)