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A Modeling System to Examine Near-Road and Near-Source Air Toxics for Community-Scale Cumulative Assessments.
Citation:
Barzyk, T., V. Isakov, AND S. Arunachalam. A Modeling System to Examine Near-Road and Near-Source Air Toxics for Community-Scale Cumulative Assessments. International Society of Exposure Science Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH, October 12 - 16, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA 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:
Cumulative assessments consider a range of potential stressors that might impact the health of a receptor, such as a local neighborhood or wetland area. When receptors are located near pollution sources such as highways or ports (within 500-1,000 m), then they could be at risk of increased exposure due to greater pollutant concentrations. We developed a near-road and near-source modeling system to estimate outdoor air toxic concentration gradients near these sources. The system is currently called C-Line, the Community Line Source Modeling System. C-Line uses various types of publicly available input parameters, such as traffic counts and emission volumes, within a user-friendly interface. The term “system” is based on the ability to easily download publicly-available input datasets (or upload specific, locally-collected datasets), to vary inputparameters and examine differences in scenarios (e.g., increase traffic or diesel on a given roadway), and visualize results and differences between results for different scenarios. Various geographic areas will be presented as case studies, along with the role of the near-source pollution within the context of other chemical and non-chemical stressors to which these communities are potentially exposed, including other pollution sources and perceived stressors. C-Line results can be used to inform decisions about citizen science campaigns, educate users on relative risks in their community, or to support research on near-source air toxics exposures.
URLs/Downloads:
https://www.intlexposurescience.org/Public/Annual_Meeting/PastMeetings/2014_Meeting.aspx