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Evaluation of Small Form Factor, Filter-Based PM2.5 Samplers for Temporary Non-Regulatory Monitoring During Wildland Fire Smoke Events
Citation:
Krug, Jonathan D., R. Long, M. Colon, A. Habel, S. Urbanski, AND M. Landis. Evaluation of Small Form Factor, Filter-Based PM2.5 Samplers for Temporary Non-Regulatory Monitoring During Wildland Fire Smoke Events. ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 265:0, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118718
Impact/Purpose:
A comparison of small form factor PM samplers for use in short term community monitoring in areas impacted by smoke from wildland and prescribed fires. Specific attention focused on providing traceability to the PM2.5 FRM during both smoke and non-smoke study periods.
Description:
Wildland fire activity and associated emission of particulate matter air pollution is increasing in the United States over the last two decades due primarily to a combination of increased temperature, drought, and historically high forest fuel loading. The regulatory monitoring networks in the Unites States are mostly concentrated in larger population centers where anthropogenic air pollution sources are concentrated. Smaller population centers in areas more likely to be impacted by wildland fire smoke in many instances lack adequate observational air quality data. Several commercially available small form factor filter-based PM2.5 samplers (SFFFS) were evaluated under typical ambient and simulated near- to mid-field wildland fire smoke conditions to evaluate their accuracy for use in temporary deployments during major wildfire events. The performance of all the SFFFS tested versus the designated federal reference methods (FRM) was respectable in determining PM2.5 concentration in both ambient (2.7 – 14.0 µg m-3) and chamber smoke environments (24.6 – 3044.6 µg m-3) with accuracies ranging from ~92 – 98%. However, only the ARA Instruments model N-FRM Sampler was found to provide PM2.5 mass measurement accuracies that meet FRM guideline performance specifications under both typical ambient (97.3 ± 1.9%) and simulated wildland fire conditions (98.2 ± 1.4%).
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Evaluation of Small Form Factor, Filter-Based PM2.5 Samplers for Temporary Non-Regulatory Monitoring During Wildland Fire Smoke Events