Grantee Research Project Results
2010 Progress Report: Development and Assessment of Environmental Indicators: Application to Mobile Source Impacts on Emissions, Air Quality and Health Outcomes
EPA Grant Number: R833626Title: Development and Assessment of Environmental Indicators: Application to Mobile Source Impacts on Emissions, Air Quality and Health Outcomes
Investigators: Russell, Armistead G. , Tolbert, Paige , Klein, Mitchel , Mulholland, James , Darrow, Lyndsey , Sarnat, Jeremy , Sarnat, Stefanie Ebelt , Pachon, Jorge
Current Investigators: Russell, Armistead G. , Sarnat, Stefanie Ebelt , Mulholland, James , Sarnat, Jeremy , Klein, Mitchel , Tolbert, Paige
Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology , Emory University
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2010 (Extended to September 30, 2011)
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 2009 through September 30,2010
Project Amount: $499,512
RFA: Development of Environmental Health Outcome Indicators (2006) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , Air Toxics , Human Health , Air
Objective:
- Develop approaches to identify outcome-based indicators and apply those approaches to mobile sources in Atlanta for the period 1998-2004 using data and methods of varying detail and complexity.
- Test a range of integrated indicators for the impact of mobile source emission changes on air quality and cardiovascular health.
- Develop and apply approaches for assessing these indicators for their ability to represent a range of outcomes associated with mobile source emissions and policies.
- Evaluate select indicators using an independent, new data set of emissions, air quality and cardiovascular health endpoints for 2005-2009 to assess the approaches developed for identifying, testing, assessing and refining outcome indicators.
Progress Summary:
At this point of the project, we concluded our estimation of the secondary organic carbon (SOC) by four different methods and evaluated the association of both primary and secondary fractions with health outcomes. Our results are in agreement with other studies, in which the primary fraction of the organic carbon resulted in a significant association with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This primary fraction is related to combustion activities, such as traffic and biomass burning.
We have advanced in the development and assessment of an outcome-based, multipollutant indicator for use in air quality and epidemiologic analysis, in which pollutants are mixed based on their emissions ratios. Such an indicator will represent a source of emissions. For our analysis, we chose mobile sources because they represent a significant fraction of pollution in urban centers. The association with health was based on CVD outcomes, which are aggravated by combustion sources. We found that the proposed multipollutant indicator (here called EB-IMSI) not only represents adequately the impact of mobile sources on air quality, but also has a stronger association with CVD than any of the single species (EC, CO and NOx). A sensitivity analysis of fractions in which pollutants can be combined to form the indicator shows that the combination that constitutes the proposed indicator (a weighting based on emission ratios) is near the strongest associated with CVD. This outcome-based, multipollutant indicator, built on readily available air quality data and a straightforward calculation, provides support for the setting of multipollutant air quality standards.
Figure 1. Associations of POC and health
outcomes (only significant associations,
p-=value <0.05)
Figure 2. Associations of OC, POS and SOC
and health outcomes (only significant associations,
p-value <0.05)
Figure 6. Temporal trends of EB-IMSI.
Figure 7. Scatter plot of EB-IMSI vs CMB (top) and PMF (bottom)
Figure 9. Sensitivity of health association wiht multipollutant indicators.
We have developed and assessed outcome-based, multipollutant indicators for mobile sources that use readily available data and require a simple calculation. These indicators show good correlation with mobile source activity and a stronger association with health outcomes than the individual pollutants. The EB-IMSI can be the base for the setting of air quality multipollutant standards.
Future Activities:
Our focus for the subsequent period will be conclusion of the project with the development of indicator sets, for which we account for the indicator structure, the associated uncertainty and the outcome relationship. We will be evaluating this new set of indicators using an independent set of air quality and health data from the period 2005-2009.
References:
Journal Articles on this Report : 2 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 19 publications | 14 publications in selected types | All 14 journal articles |
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Type | Citation | ||
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Pachon JE, Balachandran S, Hu Y, Weber RJ, Mulholland JA, Russell AG. Comparison of SOC estimates and uncertainties from aerosol chemical composition and gas phase data in Atlanta. Atmospheric Environment 2010;44 (32):3907-3914. |
R833626 (2010) R833626 (Final) R833866 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Sarnat JA, Moise T, Shpund J, Liu Y, Pachon JE, Qasrawi R, Abdeen Z, Brenner, S, Nassar K, Saleh R, Schauer JJ. Assessing the spatial and temporal variability of fine particulate matter components in Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian cities. Atmospheric Environment 2010;44(20):2383-2392. |
R833626 (2010) R833626 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
Indicators, IMSI, Secondary Organic Carbon (SOC), mobile sources, health residualsProgress 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.