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Identifying Air Pollution Source Impacts in Urban Communities Using Mobile Monitoring
Citation:
Deshmukh, P., E. Kimbrough, S. Krabbe, R. Logan, Vladilen Isakov, AND R. Baldauf. Identifying Air Pollution Source Impacts in Urban Communities Using Mobile Monitoring. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier BV, AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, 715:136979, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136979
Impact/Purpose:
Transportation sources have a significant impact on local air quality and human health. Identifying the impacts from these sources, especially in complex urban environments, can be critical for air quality management and public health protection. This study used mobile monitoring to identify community level air quality and the contributions of local sources to these levels. This information will be useful to environmental professionals, public health officials and urban planners in identifying and controlling air pollution from transportation and other sources in urban areas
Description:
With increasing population, rapid urbanization and increased migration to cities, the local impacts of increasing transportation and industrial-related air pollution are of growing concern worldwide. Elevated air pollution concentrations near these types of sources have been linked to adverse health effects including acute and chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Mobile monitoring has proven to be a useful technique to characterize spatial variability of air pollution in urban areas and pollution concentrations gradients from specific sources. A study was conducted in the Kansas City, Kansas (USA) metropolitan area using mobile monitoring to characterize spatial variability and pollutant gradients to identify the contribution of multiple air pollution sources on community-level air quality in a complex urban environment. Measurements focused on nitrogen dioxide (NO2), black carbon (BC), and ultrafine particulate matter (UFP). Mobile monitoring showed that median concentrations of these pollutants ranged by up to factor of three between the communities, with individual measurements ranging over an order of magnitude within the community. Evaluating these air quality measurements with wind direction data highlighted the influence of specific and combinations of air pollution sources on these elevated pollutant concentrations, which can provide valuable information to environmental and public health officials in prioritizing and implementing cost-effect air quality management strategies.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Identifying Air Pollution Source Impacts in Urban Communities Using Mobile Monitoring
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