Grantee Research Project Results
2001 Progress Report: Providing Timely Public Access to Daily Air Quality Information about Birmingham, AL and Its Regional Environment
EPA Grant Number: R828583Title: Providing Timely Public Access to Daily Air Quality Information about Birmingham, AL and Its Regional Environment
Investigators: Bell, Sam , Norris, W. B. , Coats, Carlie J. , Gillani, Noor V. , Biazar, Arastoo , Howard, Christopher , Vukovich, Jeff , McHenry, John , Bacon, Lee , Dillard, Randy
Current Investigators: Bell, Sam , Norris, W. B. , Gillani, Noor V. , Howard, Christopher , McHenry, John , Dillard, Randy
Institution: Jefferson County Department of Health , Alabama Department of Environmental Management , MCNC / North Carolina Supercomputing Center , The University of Alabama in Huntsville
Current Institution: Jefferson County Department of Health , North Carolina Supercomputing Center , The University of Alabama in Huntsville
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2002 (Extended to December 31, 2003)
Project Period Covered by this Report: January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2002
Project Amount: $299,989
RFA: Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) (2000) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Water , Air , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration
Objective:
The broad objective of this project is to develop and implement an improved, sustainable, and transferable program of: (1) monitoring local air quality (AQ), and (2) providing timely and effective public access to useful information about AQ and related meteorology for metro Birmingham and its regional environment (Southeastern and Eastern United States). The AQ monitoring and public outreach activities and focus are to be expanded in several major ways, each constituting a significant innovation in the way local agencies and communities encounter air quality. Our specific objectives and approach are outlined below in the form of specific Project Tasks:Task 1: Continue the present program of AQ monitoring and public access.
Task 2: Expand the continuous monitoring program for PM2.5,
particularly to explore urban-regional exchanges.
Task 3: Extend program focus from mainly ozone to ozone and PM2.5.
Task 4: Extend program focus from local only to local and regional.
Task 5: Extend forecast modeling capability for meteorology and chemistry, utilizing
both upgraded statistical modeling and state-of-the-art real-time 3D Eulerian
grid modeling for ozone.
Task 6: Extend timely and effective public outreach via Internet, the news media,
and other means.
Task 7: Provide for local program sustainability and national program transferability.
Progress Summary:
Year 1 activities have been of a developmental nature. The focus in Year 2 will shift more toward completing the development of the program, and testing performance, improving performance, and documenting/institutionalizing the process for sustainability and national transferability. This section is a brief task-by-task summary of the items noted above, documentation of what was accomplished in Year 1.Task 1: Continuation of Pre-Existing Program
The pre-existing program of AQ management for the Birmingham Ozone Non-attainment Area (BONA) of Jefferson and Shelby Counties, was continued during 2001:
- Continuous AQ monitoring - ozone (nine sites), CO (two sites), SO2 and NOx (one site), PM2.5 (one site);
- 24-hour average sampling and analysis of PM2.5 - every day (two sites) and every 3 days (six sites);
- Daily ozone forecasting based on statistical modeling using local input variables only;
- Public outreach involving local educational programs and sharing daily ozone forecasts with selected stakeholders.
Task 2: Expansion of the Local Continuous Monitoring Program
Six new continuous monitors of PM2.5 were purchased (four with EMPACT funds), tested and installed during the first half of the year, and were in operation from about August 1. Four of them were installed at rural sites in the periphery of the BONA (Pinson, Corner, Providence, and McAdory) to capture information about regional inflow/outflow of PM2.5 relative to the urban area; the other two were installed at urban-suburban sites (Wylam and Hoover), and complement the one already in existence at the N. Birmingham site. Each of these seven sites now has a Ruprecht and Patashnik Model 1400ab Continuous Particle Analyzer or a Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM) to monitor the particle concentrations, as well as a new ESC Data Logger to transmit the data to the central computer seven times a day (to be increased to hourly in 2002). The central computer subsequently sends the data to the main EMPACT Web Site at UAH at the end of each polling session. Ozone also is monitored continuously at each of the seven continuous PM2.5 sites. A new ozone monitoring site was added in 2001, at a rural peripheral site in Leeds (Jefferson, CO). In addition, a new continuous SO2 monitor was installed at one of the ozone monitoring sites (Fairfield).
Task 3: Extension of Program Focus from Ozone Only to Ozone and PM2.5
With the installation of the PM2.5 continuous monitors at seven of the eleven monitoring sites, in addition to monitoring of ozone at 10 sites (all except Wylam), program focus has expanded from ozone only to ozone and PM2.5. The PM2.5 program also includes 24-hour average filter sampling at eight sites (daily at two sites and every 3 days at six sites), seven of them co-located with the continuous PM sites (the eighth one at Helena). These samples are routinely analyzed for chemical composition.
Task 4: Extension of Program Focus from Local Only to Local and Regional
A major new innovation of the Birmingham AQ management program has been the expansion of its focus from local only to local plus regional. We have done this in terms of both observational information and modeling information. Observationally, two new elements have been added: (1) the continuous monitoring of both ozone and PM2.5, not only at urban-suburban sites but also at a number of rural sites in the periphery of the BONA (this provides specific information to track regional inflows/outflows of these two secondary pollutants relative to metro Birmingham, and distinguishes regional impacts locally from local contributions); and (2) daily tracking of regional (Eastern U.S.) midday ozone distribution (AIRNOW contour maps) for the past 4 days, providing a dynamic perspective also of regional ozone pollution. In addition, we have successfully implemented a daily local-regional quantitative program of ozone forecasting based on real-time photochemical modeling in forecast mode. At the same time, we also have continued our daily ozone forecast program based on local statistical modeling.
Task 5: Extend Forecast Modeling Capability for Meteorology and Chemistry
Under this task, our two main objectives are to: (a) upgrade the statistical ozone forecasting by including the role of regional ozone transport (by changing the use of today's observed ozone in the statistical formula for predicting tomorrow's peak ozone from the locally observed value to that observed in the upwind airmass predicted to arrive in Birmingham tomorrow); and (b) implement and test the utility of a comprehensive uban-regional photochemical ozone forecast modeling system (including the role of regional ozone transport and chemistry) as an additional input to local ozone forecasting. Task 5a remains to be accomplished during 2002, but we were able to successfully implement Task 5b-a Real-Time Ozone Forecast System (RTOFS), based on urban-regional meteorological/emissions/photochemical modeling. We currently are in the process of testing its utility in local ozone forecasting.
Task 6: Public Outreach
The main new element in the area of public outreach has been the development of a new Web site at UAH. Links to the Web site will be available from the JCDH and ADEM Web sites. The developmental work is continuing and the new site will be fully operational to the public at the beginning of the 2002 ozone season. Because it is possible for the Birmingham area to be designated in attainment of the 1-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) at the end of the 2002 ozone season, an intense public outreach campaign is being planned to be launched in conjunction with a special media event to promote the Birmingham EMPACT program. We plan to inaugurate the new Web site at that time. Our public outreach program also has other elements. Local media services have been extremely supportive of getting news about air quality to the public (especially The Birmingham News, The Birmingham Post-Herald, and local television meteorologists from NBC, ABC, and FOX 6 affiliates). Stakeholders in the local ozone action program, especially the Alabama Partners for Clean Air (APCA), also have helped to provide "timely public access to air quality information." Educational programs have been numerous and have included outreach programs to approximately 40 neighborhood associations, to many public and private schools as well as colleges and universities (one of the APCA members alone spread the AQ news to 35,000 students), and to many civic-social, business, and environmental groups.
Task 7: Program Sustainability and National Transferability
In Year 1, the focus was on program development. The task of program sustainability and national transferability will be performed in Year 2.
Future Activities:
In year 2, we plan to continue efforts on Tasks 3, 4: Regional Visibility Mapping as a Surrogate for PM2.5 and Task 6: Public Outreach. We also plan to work on Task 7: Program Sustainability and National Program Transferability.Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 2 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
ambient air quality, ozone, PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NOx, CO, AQI, air quality index; AIRNOW, meteorology, chemistry, monitoring, modeling, Birmingham, Southeast, AL, Alabama., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Air, Geographic Area, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, air toxics, Health Risk Assessment, State, Monitoring/Modeling, Environmental Monitoring, Atmospheric Sciences, Ecology and Ecosystems, tropospheric ozone, EMPACT, ambient air quality, monitoring, particulate matter, meteorology, ozone , particulate, regional monitoring program , stratospheric ozone, Alabama (AL), air quality models, ozone, public reporting, modeling, predictive model, community outreach, ecosystem health, public access, airmass trajectory maps, statistical forecast model, air qualityRelevant Websites:
http://vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/empact_bhm/
Exit
http://www.jcdh.org/ Exit
http://www.jcdh.org/default.asp?ID=79
Exit
http://www.jcdh.org/default.asp?ID=80
Exit
http://www.alabamacleanair.com/
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.