Grantee Research Project Results
2005 Progress Report: Real-Time Monitoring and Communication of Levels of Fine Particles, Ozone, and Black Carbon in Northern Manhattan
EPA Grant Number: R829324Title: Real-Time Monitoring and Communication of Levels of Fine Particles, Ozone, and Black Carbon in Northern Manhattan
Investigators: Kulikowski, Robert R. , Kinney, Patrick L. , Muller, Rick , Prakash, Swati
Current Investigators: Kulikowski, Robert R. , Kinney, Patrick L. , Prakash, Swati
Institution: Borough President of Manhattan , West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT for Environmental Justice) , Columbia University in the City of New York
Current Institution: Borough President of Manhattan , Columbia University in the City of New York , West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT for Environmental Justice)
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: October 12, 2001 through October 11, 2005 (Extended to October 11, 2006)
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 12, 2004 through October 11, 2005
Project Amount: $378,458
RFA: Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) (2001) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration , Environmental Statistics , Water , Aquatic Ecosystems , Air
Objective:
This project seeks to develop and implement real-time monitoring data management and public communication of ambient levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), ozone (O3), and elemental black carbon in the Northern Manhattan area, which includes the neighborhoods of East, West, and Central Harlem; Washington Heights; and Inwood. These data will be communicated to Northern Manhattan residents in a way that is accessible and understandable and that can be utilized by residents to reduce their exposure and health risks.
Progress Summary:
The project has three components:
- Compiling and creating real-time data on ambient air quality in Northern Manhattan:
- Generating our own data on black carbon with an Aethalometer;
- Accessing data generated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
- Managing data: Integrating data on all three pollutants, as well as air quality indices and forecasts for fine particulate matter and ozone into a single database (i.e., graphs and charts, numerical and descriptive values).
- Public communication: Includes an hourly updated Web site displaying recent readings with background on air pollution, a hotline for air quality information, press conference, town hall meetings, and public education through outreach to Northern Manhattan communities.
Table 1 summarizes the progress on all three objectives.
Table 1.
Task | Status as of January 16, 2007 |
1) Data Compilation: |
|
a. Black carbon data from Aethalometer | Aethalometer running and obtaining data |
b. Data access from NYSDEC and EPA | System in place to obtain data |
2) Data Management | System in place to manage and convey data |
3) Public Communication | Web site to be available to the public imminently; hotline being established; flyers and fact sheets have been created; magnets and pens to be ordered soon; press conference, town hall meeting and other forms of community outreach in planning phase |
Uptown Sky has completed the project objectives as they relate to data compilation and data management, and a framework to complete the remaining goals set forth in the Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking proposal has been established. We seek to use the data compiled and managed for this project to enhance public awareness on air pollution, and to communicate the relationship between air quality and health to enable the residents of Northern Manhattan to make informed decisions on daily activities based on air quality information. Such objectives aim to improve public health, and public awareness enhanced through this project also serves to contribute to longer-term campaigns to improve environmental conditions, especially as they relate to air quality, in Northern Manhattan.
Although several years’ worth of data have been collected and a system is in place to ensure their continued collection, the data have not yet been analyzed, thus preventing the investigators from making any scientifically verifiable conclusions. When the Web site is fully developed, investigators will analyze archived data on air quality variables, including information on meteorological conditions. This analysis will formulate conclusions on peak pollutant levels at certain times of the day, as well as relationships of air quality to weather, such as temperature and wind. Such conclusions can serve to inform residents, especially those who are vulnerable because of asthma, to exercise caution when going outdoors.
The following sections summarize the status of tasks listed in the EMPACT proposal for Uptown Sky.
Monitoring
An extended range Aethalometer measuring black carbon levels is now functioning properly and posts real-time data on a Web site developed for this project. We have experienced many technical problems with the monitor and have devoted much energy to ensure its repair and proper functioning.
Web Site
A password protected Web Site called Uptown Sky (http://www.uptownsky.org Exit ) has been established to access and manage air quality data, to educate and inform constituents in Northern Manhattan on air pollution and how air pollution affects health, and to provide relevant data and information on air pollution in Northern Manhattan in a manner that is easily understandable to constituents.
The Web site explains in detail the definition and sources of air pollution (such as vehicles and toxic sites), the health effects of air pollution (specifically asthma), air pollution as it relates to environmental justice, the composition of the most common air pollutants, scientific terminology used to describe pollutants, and steps for individual and community protection against air pollution. Additionally, the web content explains policies and laws relevant to air pollution and how these laws affect low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.
A health literacy consultant will work with WE ACT, a community-based environmental justice organization in Northern Manhattan, to ensure that the Web site content language and design are highly usable. It is imperative that the Web site be readable and usable for the constituents of Northern Manhattan in order to achieve the EMPACT program goals of public access and community tracking of air quality data. For this reason, WE ACT is taking great care to ensure appropriate language and design for the Web site text, and is currently designating a health literacy consultant to translate this material from its current 12th+ grade reading level to language more appropriate to our constituents, specifically sixth grade reading level, and develop a correspondingly high quality translation of the material into Spanish.
Web Site Data Management Systems
Ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) data continue to be obtained from NYSDEC’s Web Site in a text file formatted database. Although the data are frequently updated automatically, they are not consistently updated hourly. There have sometimes been gaps between the current time and the time when the measurements were last recorded in the database. These time gaps range between 3 and 14 hours. Meteorological data are being collected from the Web Site for The Weather Channel (http://www.weather.com Exit ) on an hourly basis, and from a local MET station located beside the black carbon Aethalometer at the WE ACT office in real-time. The Weather Channel data include daily averages as well as sunrise and sunset. The local MET station particularly collects data, notably temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure, at the Aethalometer’s airflow sampling inlet in case the black carbon data need to be adjusted for Standard Pressure (STP) during post analysis by investigators.
Initially we stated that black carbon data would be collected using an ESC-brand data logger. This style of data logger is primarily geared toward collecting data from multiple monitors (onsite and offsite) simultaneously. Since we are only directly collecting data from the WE ACT on-site Aethalometer in real-time, a standard rack-mounted computer was used in place of the ESC data logger. A purpose-designed program was developed and installed on this computer to specifically communicate with the WE ACT Aethalometer in order to collect, archive, and post the black carbon readings to the Web site.
This equipment continues to be protected from electrical sags, spikes, and outages using industrial-strength backup batteries.
All data stored on the data logger and the Web Site Management Center (WMC) are backed up in real-time to a dedicated backup server to provide a second tier of backup redundancy.
Copies of all proprietary software products developed for the purpose-built data logger are maintained on the WE ACT premises in case they need to be re-installed in the event of a possible computer failure or emergency replacement. The data in the backup server can then be copied back to the data logger and/or the WMC that individually act as the first two tiers of backup redundancy, respectively.
Table 2.
Monitoring Element |
Data Frequency (Sampling Rate) |
Source |
Black Carbon |
1 minute |
WE ACT Aethalometer |
MET – Remote |
24 hours |
The Weather Channel Web Site |
MET – Local |
1 minute |
WE ACT Meteorological Station |
PM2.5 (fine) |
1 hour |
DEC Web Site |
Ozone |
1 hour |
DEC Web Site |
UV |
24 hours |
NOAA Web Site |
HazeCam |
15 minutes |
CAMNET Web Site |
All the computer equipment for the telephone hotline purchased with funds from the grant has been installed and tested. We have placed an order with the telephone company to obtain a memorable telephone number that spells a word associated with air monitoring (e.g., 1-646-MONITOR) to serve as Uptown Sky’s hotline. There is currently a backlog on such orders, but we expect to have the line installed by the end of January. Because of the configuration of the telephone exchange in our area, obtaining a number that is both memorable and available has proven to be more of a challenge than we originally anticipated.
Traditional Media and Outreach
A promotional flier and an air pollution fact sheet on Uptown Sky and air quality have been created and have been distributed to many Northern Manhattan residents at community board meetings, churches, community-based organizations, schools, libraries, and other locales frequented by community members. A workshop at an upcoming community board health committee meeting will introduce Uptown Sky to residents and explain how it can be used as a tool to protect their health from exposure to air pollution. A short news article describing Uptown Skywill be featured in WE ACT’s online newsletter, In a WE ACT Minute, to be emailed to WE ACT’s membership by the last week of January 2007. Likewise, in 2006 we have given presentations about Uptown Sky at a variety of community meetings, including: the Hamilton Heights Homeowners Association meeting, the Mount Morris Park Homeowners Association, the Convent Avenue Neighborhood Association, the 144th Street Block Association, Grant Houses Residents Association meeting, Manhattanville Houses Residents Association, the Hamilton Grange, Manhattanville-Riverside, Mary McLeod Bethune, United Block Association (UBA) Beatrice Lewis Senior Centers; and the YM-YWHA of Washington Heights. In all, these presentations reached an audience of more than three thousand. In addition, as a means of sustaining this project beyond the life of this grant, we have another town hall meeting scheduled for February to continue to encourage community dialogue on this topic.
Radio and Television
WE ACT and the Manhattan Borough President’s Office have arranged to jointly reach out to news stations to promote Uptown Sky’s Web Site and hotline. A press event will serve to enhance public awareness of air quality issues, and to publicize Uptown Sky and the upcoming town hall meeting.
Print materials
WE ACT has produced flyers and multi-colored fact sheets that display the Uptown Sky URL and hotline number and provide information about air pollution. Additionally, magnets and pens will advertise Uptown Sky’s URL and hotline number.
Publications and Presentations
A PowerPoint slide presentation will be created to use as an educational tool at community meetings in Northern Manhattan. This presentation will accomplish the following objectives:
- Provide an introduction to air pollution issues in urban areas;
- Teach participants about the sources and health effects of ozone, fine particles, and elemental black carbon (as a surrogate for diesel exhaust), and about the factors that affect dispersion and ambient levels of these pollutants;
- Demonstrate how these pollutants are continuously monitored in the three sites included in this proposal;
- Show participants real-time data, either from a Web page or the telephone hotline, or from archived data (if a Web page or telephone is not available);
- Contextualize these data in terms of National Ambient Air Quality Standards and other information related to health benchmarks;
- Discuss possible health effects of current levels; and
- Empower residents to take measures to reduce personal and community exposures.
WE ACT has scheduled a Presentation about Uptown Sky, with the Health Committee of Manhattan Community Board 11 on February 5, 2007.
On March 18, 2004, co-investigators Patrick Kinney from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and Swati Prakash from WE ACT delivered a training session on air quality and its health impacts, focusing on fine particulate matter, ozone and diesel exhaust (for which black carbon is an indicator), to 40 community participants of WE ACT’s Environmental Health & Justice Leadership Training.
Please see the bibliographic list of presentations at the end of this report for the complete list of presentations.
Future Activities:
The final stage of Uptown Sky will focus on public communication to make the data obtained and compiled for the Web site and hotline accessible to the residents of Northern Manhattan. As explained throughout the report, such activities include further Web site development, establishing a hotline, holding a press conference and a town hall meeting, presenting on Uptown Sky at community venues, and distributing print materials. These activities are in the planning phase due to significant changes in the project schedule throughout the duration of the project due largely to WE ACT staff personnel changes. The investigators of this project are fully committed to carrying out this project to its completion and have established a work plan for doing so.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 15 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Northern Manhattan, air pollution, ambient air, particulate matter, black carbon, ozone, UV Index, meteorological conditions, air quality index, AQI, monitoring, data management, aethalometer, human health, community health, public health, environmental justice, urban health, communities of color, low-income communities, community awareness, public knowledge, health literacy, community based organization, Harlem, Washington Heights, Manhattan Borough President, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Columbia University, pollution alert, asthma, media, air, global climate, mobile sources, sensitive populations, population, race, ethnic groups, particulates, socioeconomic, community-based, public good, environmental chemistry, social science, ecology, conservation, environmental assets, sociological, observation, e-map, measurement methods, northeast, transportation,, RFA, Health, Scientific Discipline, Air, Geographic Area, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, particulate matter, Bioavailability, Health Risk Assessment, air toxics, Environmental Chemistry, Epidemiology, State, Monitoring/Modeling, Disease & Cumulative Effects, Environmental Monitoring, Biochemistry, tropospheric ozone, particulates, health effects, ambient air quality, sensitive populations, urban air, atmospheric measurements, EMPACT, monitoring, PM 2.5, air pollutants, effects assessment, particulate, stratospheric ozone, airway disease, pulmonary disease, ozone, continuous monitoring, ambient air, air pollution, children, carbon black, particles, human exposue, clinical studies, human exposure, sensitive subgroups, ecological risk, urban soot, ambient particulates, Acute health effects, PM2.5, allergic response, measurement methods , atmospheric chemistryRelevant Websites:
http://www.uptownsky.org Exit
http://www.weact.org/ Exit
http://www.mbpo.org/ Exit
http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/ Exit
http://www.dec.ny.gov/ Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.