Urban aerosols have been identified as important species of concern due to their potential health and environmental impacts. This symposium series book will describe the basic chemistry and physics determining the impacts of aerosol species and will highlight the research results from the measurements that were taken following the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) on 9/11/01. The WTC tragedy led to the release of millions of pounds of debris aside from the structural steel, part of which was widely dissipated as aerosols and particulates in the debris cloud over lower Manhattan. Additionally, continuing fires under the debris led to the release of fine combustion related aerosols for a considerable time period in this urban environment. Held during the week of the second anniversary of the WTC tragedy in NYC, the symposium book will describe various aspects of the event, aerosol and gas exposures, and the related impacts of these aerosols. The book contributions will highlight efforts work from atmospheric chemists, meteorologists, health workers, and biologists for a timely compilation of what is known and not known about the composition and transport of tropospheric aerosols in urban environs, particularly those from the WTC collapse. Particular interest is in the acute and chronic environmental effects of these aerosols as they impact human health. Chapters included in the book will also address aerosol lifetimes, aerosol transport and removal processes, acute and chronic health effects to fine aerosol and particulate exposures, and the environmental impacts of aerosols.

Developed from a symposium sponsored by the Division of Environmental Chemistry, Inc. and Geochemistry, Inc. at the 226th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, New York, September 7-11, 2003. Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Introduction to urban aerosols and their impacts / Nancy A. Marley and Jeffrey S. Gaffney -- An overview of the environmental conditions and human exposures that occurred post September 11, 2001 / Paul J. Lioy, Panos G. Georgopolous, and Clifford P. Weisel -- World Trade Center dust characterization -- Spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction analyses of asbestos in the World Trade Center dust : asbestos content of the settled dust / Gregg A. Swayze [and others] -- Environmental mapping of the World Trade Center area with imaging spectroscopy after the September 11, 2001 attack. The airborne visible/infrared imaging spectrometer mapping / Roger N. Clark [and others] -- Materials characterization of dusts generated by the collapse of the World Trade Center / Gregory P. Meeker [and others] -- Persistent organic pollutants in dusts that settled at indoor and outdoor locations in lower Manhattan after September 11, 2001 / John H. Offenberg [and others] -- Characterization of size-fractionated World Trade Center dust and estimation of relative dust contribution to ambient particulate concentrations / Polina B. Maciejczyk ... [et al.[-- Characterization of the plumes passing over lower Manhattan after the World Trade Center disaster / Robert Z. Leifer, Graham S. Bench, and Thomas A. Cahill -- Very fine aerosols from the World Trade Center collapse piles : anaerobic incineration? / Thomas A. Cahill [and others] -- Semivolatile organic acids and levoglucosan in New York City air following September 11, 2001 / Michael D. Hays [and others] -- Evaluation of potential human exposures to airborne particulate matter following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers / Joseph P. Pinto [and others] -- Inorganic chemical composition and chemical reactivity of settled dust generated by the World Trade Center building collapse / Geoffrey S. Plumlee [and others] -- World Trade Center environmental contaminant database : a publicly available air quality dataset for the New York City area / Steven N. Chillrud [and others] -- The importance of the chemical and physical properties of aerosols in determining their transport and residence times in the troposphere / Jeffrey S. Gaffney and Nancy A. Marley -- 210 Po/210Pb in outdoor-indoor PM-2.5 and PM-1.0 in Prague, Wintertime 2003 / Jan Hovorka [and others] -- Estimates of the vertical transport of urban aerosol particles / Edward E. Hindman.