Grantee Research Project Results
2011 Progress Report: Coarse PM Emissions Model Development and Inventory Validation
EPA Grant Number: R834552Title: Coarse PM Emissions Model Development and Inventory Validation
Investigators: Hannigan, Michael P. , Wiedinmyer, Christine , Fierer, Noah
Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder , National Center for Atmospheric Research
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: June 1, 2010 through May 31, 2013
Project Period Covered by this Report: June 1, 2011 through May 31,2012
Project Amount: $500,000
RFA: Novel Approaches to Improving Air Pollution Emissions Information (2009) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , Air
Objective:
This research is designed to ultimately provide new emissions models for PM10-2.5 and PM10. An extensive measurement dataset of PM10-2.5 and PM2.5 mass as well as chemical and biological composition will be collected. This dataset will then be used to evaluate existing PM10 emissions inventories. Existing emissions modules will be updated to more accurately simulate PM10-2.5 emissions. Further, a new emissions model that will simulate the emissions of primary biological particles will be developed.
Progress Summary:
During the second year, we started biological particle analyses of the collected PM filter samples, pushed forward on carbon analysis of those filters, published a paper describing the performance of the current generation of PM10-2.5 emissions inventories by comparing 2005 CMAQ model output to PM10-2.5 measurement time-series for 2005 from all the US regulatory sampling efforts, obtained and organized the more spatially comprehensive 2010 PM10-2.5 time series from the EPA AQS, and continued to explore both the 2005 and 2010 measurement time series to hunt for relationships between environmental parameters, land use, and PM10-2.5 levels. Full details are in the annual report but below we highlight the initial results from of the biological particle analysis as well as the exploration of 2010 PM10-2.5 concentrations from the AQS lumped by proximity to source region. In addition to those highlights, we have also learned that (1) reactive oxidant species activity (as measured by macrophage assay) is much higher in the Denver and Greeley PM2.5 samples than the PM10-2.5 samples, and (2) that PM10-2.5 and PM2.5 Denver and Greeley samples exhibit similar crustal enrichment patterns for metal species with the exception of the brake wear markers as well as Cu, Cd and As.
Biological Particle Analysis
To complement the PM10-2.5 and PM2.5 measurements of total mass, chemical composition and source modeling, we have developed a variety of high-throughput techniques to assess the abundance, diversity, and composition of airborne microbial communities found in the PM samples. For analysis of the Denver and Greeley PM10-2.5 and PM2.5 filters we used the Illumina sequence to allow us to explore some of the fungal and pollen diversity in addition to the bacterial diversity. The figure below shows the relative abundance of those broad level diversity results for our samples, where blue is the bacterial community, green is the pollen community and brown is the fungal community. As you can observe the bacterial community is dominant across all dimensions of the data (time, space and particle size). The fungal communities increase in relative importance as we move from PM2.5 to PM10-2.5. This is the expected result as fungi are typically larger in size than bacteria.
PM10-2.5 Concentration and Environmental Parameters
After gathering the regulatory collocated measurements of PM10 and PM2.5 for 2005 and using those to explore the performance of the current generation CMAQ (which resulted in our first manuscript form this project), we realized that there was potential to use large regulatory measurement data sets to provide new information about sources of PM10-2.5. As such, we acquired the most recently available collocated hourly measurements of PM10 and PM2.5: 2010 AQS and CDPHE data. We subtracted the two and then explored the spatiotemporal relationships as well as the relationship between the two size fractions (PM10-2.5 and PM2.5) with some emphasis on the regulatory challenges of the PM10 standard. As part of the analysis, we used images from space and GIS information to lump AQS sites by proximity to source types. For example, we were able to identify five sites near to agriculturally actives regions. We explored the seasonal patterns of both PM10-2.5 and PM2.5 in relationship to agricultural activity. The PM10-2.5 concentration patterns match with crop planting and harvesting while the PM2.5 concentrations peak in the winter. Additionally, we explored the day-of-week and diurnal patterns; both these patterns demonstrated that the PM10-2.5 is local and anthropogenic while PM2.5 is regional. The PM10-2.5 patterns will be used to develop more accurate temporal allocations of emissions. Importantly, these patterns are not static as they are dependent on agriculture which is dependent on weather and climate and thus different each year. As such, emissions estimations from agriculture, specifically the timing of them, will need to be more closely tied to weather and climate in the air quality model.
Future Activities:
In the coming year, 2012-2013, we will focus on the following tasks: writing the three journal manuscripts that describe the analysis (biological, trace metals, and carbonaceous components) of the collected PM10-2.5 and PM2.5 filters, completing the source apportionment of those PM samples using the analysis results, finalizing a manuscript that uses a comprehensive PM10-2.5 and PM2.5 AQS measurement data set to explore sources and processes impacting PM10-2.5 concentrations, and exploring modifications to the existing PM10 and PM2.5 emissions inventories based on the results of the preceding tasks.
Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 7 publications | 6 publications in selected types | All 5 journal articles |
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Li R, Wiedinmyer C, Baker KR, Hannigan MP. Characterization of coarse particulate matter in the western United States: a comparison between observation and modeling. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 2013;13(3):1311-1327. |
R834552 (2011) R834552 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
PM10-2.5, chemical speciation, dust, agriculture, geogenic, bioaerosolProgress 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.