Showing papers on "Air pollutant concentrations published in 2015"
TL;DR: Short-term decreases in air pollution late in pregnancy in Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics, a normally heavily polluted city, were associated with higher birth weight.
Abstract: BackgroundPrevious studies have reported decreased birth weight associated with increased air pollutant concentrations during pregnancy. However, it is not clear when during pregnancy increases in ...
140 citations
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper reported unique measurements using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with mobile sensors to collect three-dimensional fine particulate matter (PM2.5) mass concentration data on sixteen flights within 1000m altitude from August, 2014 to December, 2014 in Hangzhou, China.
102 citations
TL;DR: The results strengthen existing evidence that outdoor air pollution is a significant environmental risk factor for mortality and further investigations are needed in France with a larger representative population sample.
96 citations
TL;DR: A detailed meta-analysis of completed suicides in relation to 5 major pollutants over 6 years in the 16 administrative regions of the Republic of Korea suggests deleterious effects of ozone and particulate matter pollution on the major public health problem of suicide.
Abstract: Suggestive associations of suicide with air pollutant concentrations have been reported. Recognizing regional and temporal variability of pollutant concentrations and of suicide, we undertook a detailed meta-analysis of completed suicides in relation to 5 major pollutants over 6 years in the 16 administrative regions of the Republic of Korea, while also controlling for other established influences on suicide rates. Of the 5 major pollutants examined, ozone concentrations had a powerful association with suicide rate, extending back to 4 weeks. Over the range of 2 standard deviations (SD) around the annual mean ozone concentration, the adjusted suicide rate increased by an estimated 7.8% of the annual mean rate. Particulate matter pollution also had a significant effect, strongest with a 4-week lag, equivalent to 3.6% of the annual mean rate over the same 2 SD range that approximated the half of annual observed range. These results strongly suggest deleterious effects of ozone and particulate matter pollution on the major public health problem of suicide.
81 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it has been proposed that reduction in levels of air pollution may result in lessening of the global burden of disease, which is a major environmental risk as far as public health is concerned.
Abstract: Air pollution has become a major environmental risk as far as public health is concerned. It has been proposed that reduction in levels of air pollution may result in lessening of the global burden of disease. Monitoring and management of air pollution has been carried out for a long time. However, the causes of air pollution and effects of air pollution on humans, animals, and plants are yet to be fully unraveled. Moreover, management of air pollution is facing challenges due to lack of availability of suitable tools and techniques. The latter half of the 19th century was dominated by research on the recognition and description of different pollutants and to some extent toward the search for tools and techniques to control and reduce air pollution. One of the major air pollutants is atmospheric particulate matter. Resuspended roadside dust is one of the sources of these particulate matters. Resuspended dust is composed of several elements from different sources. The elemental composition of these dust pa...
66 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the spatial distribution of the mobile source emissions was constructed based on open access data related to the streets and traffic distribution, and the mobile emission module was combined to the chemistry modeling and this implementation can be an example to be applied to other places that do not have a spatial distributions of this kind of source.
Abstract: Southeastern Brazil, the most populous and developed region of the country, faces various environmental problems associated with the growth of its population in urban areas. It is the most industrialized area in the country, comprising the metropolitan areas of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, and other major cities. Air quality is a major concern, because the reported concentrations of certain regulated pollutants, typically ozone and fine particulate, have exceeded national standards. Due to the difficulty in taking measurements over many different areas, air quality modeling is a useful tool to estimate air pollutant concentrations. For southeastern Brazil, air quality modeling has been performed mostly with the Brazilian Regional Atmospheric Modeling System with Simplified Photochemical Module and the Weather Research and Forecast with Chemistry models. One of the main objectives was to study the evolution of air quality associated with improved vehicle emission factors in urban areas, the impact of climate change on air quality, and the relationship between pollutant concentrations and health. Knowledge of mobile source emission factors has been continuously expanded by in-tunnel measurements and dynamometer protocols, which provide accurate data as inputs to photochemical air quality models. The spatial distribution of the mobile source emissions was constructed based on open access data related to the streets and traffic distribution. The mobile emission module was combined to the chemistry modeling and this implementation can be an example to be applied to other places that do not have a spatial distribution of this kind of source. Forecasts of pollutant concentrations can inform public policies, including those addressing the effects of pollutants on health of the general population, and studies of the impacts of using different fuels and implementation of emissions regulations programs.
64 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate how consideration of individuals' mobility and the spatiotemporal variability of ambient air pollution affect personal exposure estimates using both real-world data and simulated environmental conditions.
Abstract: Spatiotemporal variability of air pollutant concentrations and individuals' mobility are likely to play an important role in health outcomes and, therefore, time–activity-based exposure assessments are likely to be more sensitive compared to static residence-based air pollution estimates. Applied research on the effects of the variability underlying air pollutant concentrations and individuals' mobility on personal exposure estimates remain limited, however. We demonstrate how consideration of individuals' mobility and the spatiotemporal variability of ambient air pollution affect personal exposure estimates using both real-world data and simulated environmental conditions. Our findings suggest that time–activity-based exposure estimates might be quite similar to static estimates if spatiotemporal patterns of air pollution concentration surfaces lack autocorrelation or if an individual has a low level of mobility. There can be substantial differences, though, between two approaches when the air pollution ...
61 citations
TL;DR: Estimation of minute ventilation for the first time showed that inhalation of pollutants is increased during heavy exercise, demonstrating the need to maintain high indoor air quality in fitness centers.
60 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the current and expected air quality in Israel and identified the main responsible sources of air pollution, and used dispersion models (AERMOD, CHIMERE, FARM, and Tthis paperIC) to forecast the air quality for the target years.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze current and expected air quality in Israel and to identify the main responsible sources. To this end, the current (2010) air quality regarding five main air pollutants, PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, and O3, was analyzed and the pollutant emission inventories were determined. Next, the expected emission inventories for the target years (2015 and 2020) were estimated. Based on these results, dispersion models (AERMOD, CHIMERE, FARM, and TREFIC) were used to forecast the expected air quality for the target years. The findings indicate that current policy measures are not sufficient and additional policy measures are required, particularly in the transport, industry, energy, and households sectors.
57 citations
TL;DR: For the past 45 years, the EPA has set uniform national ambient air quality standards for common pollutants pursuant to the mandate of the Clean Air Act as discussed by the authors, which has led to a backlash over the cost of compliance.
Abstract: For the past 45 years, the EPA has set uniform national ambient air quality standards for common pollutants pursuant to the mandate of the Clean Air Act. The pollutant that has been the most difficult to control is ozone. Much of the nation’s population lives in areas that fail to meet the health-based standards for this pollutant. Ozone nonattainment areas include most of California and the Northeast corridor from Northern Virginia to New York, as well as many of the largest metropolitan areas throughout the nation. Over the years, updated ozone standards have become increasingly stringent, which is resulting in a backlash over the cost of compliance. The compliance requirements are particularly challenging for rural areas in the West, where imported pollution and less than ideal meteorological conditions make compliance difficult and costly. Costs have not been used when determining air quality standards, but this may not be the best policy decision. The EPA is ratcheting down the ozone standards and this will add many new nonattainment areas with new responsibilities for controlling air emissions. This can be expected to lead to more confrontation between the regulated states and the EPA.
TL;DR: Air pollutant concentrations in Kampala and Jinja in Uganda are dangerously high and long-term studies are needed to characterize air pollution levels during all seasons, to assess related public health impacts, and explore mitigation approaches.
Abstract: Air pollution is one of the leading global public health risks but its magnitude in many developing countries’ cities is not known. We aimed to measure the concentration of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 µm (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ozone (O3) pollutants in two Ugandan cities (Kampala and Jinja). PM2.5, O3, temperature and humidity were measured with real-time monitors, while NO2 and SO2 were measured with diffusion tubes. We found that the mean concentrations of the air pollutants PM2.5, NO2, SO2 and O3 were 132.1 μg/m3, 24.9 µg/m3, 3.7 µg/m3 and 11.4 μg/m3, respectively. The mean PM2.5 concentration is 5.3 times the World Health Organization (WHO) cut-off limits while the NO2, SO2 and O3 concentrations are below WHO cut-off limits. PM2.5 levels were higher in Kampala than in Jinja (138.6 μg/m3 vs. 99.3 μg/m3) and at industrial than residential sites (152.6 μg/m3 vs. 120.5 μg/m3) but residential sites with unpaved roads also had high PM2.5 concentrations (152.6 μg/m3). In conclusion, air pollutant concentrations in Kampala and Jinja in Uganda are dangerously high. Long-term studies are needed to characterize air pollution levels during all seasons, to assess related public health impacts, and explore mitigation approaches.
TL;DR: In this paper, two empirical methods to quantify the impact of meteorology on pollutant levels are discussed and applied to the 13-year time period between 2000 and 2012 in Atlanta, GA.
TL;DR: In this article, a long-term monitoring of O3/NO2 concentrations using passive samplers at a distance of 1, 5, 10 meters from a busy road, under the canopies of Quercus ilex and in a nearby open-field was performed.
Abstract: The evergreen Quercus ilex L. is one of the most common trees in Italian urban environments and is considered effective in the uptake of particulate and gaseous atmospheric pollutants. However, the few available estimates on O3 and NO2 removal by urban Q. ilex originate from model-based studies (which indicate NO2/O3 removal capacity of Q. ilex) and not from direct measurements of air pollutant concentrations. Thus, in the urban area of Siena (central Italy) we began long-term monitoring of O3/NO2 concentrations using passive samplers at a distance of 1, 5, 10 m from a busy road, under the canopies of Q. ilex and in a nearby open-field. Measurements performed in the period June 2011–October 2013 showed always a greater decrease of NO2 concentrations under the Q. ilex canopy than in the open-field transect. Conversely, a decrease of average O3 concentrations under the tree canopy was found only in autumn after the typical Mediterranean post-summer rainfalls. Our results indicate that interactions between O3/NO2 concentrations and trees in Mediterranean urban ecosystems are affected by temporal variations in climatic conditions. We argue therefore that the direct measurement of atmospheric pollutant concentrations should be chosen to describe local changes of aerial pollution.
18 Nov 2015
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors investigated the spatial and temporal pattern of the air quality and atmospheric pollutants in Beijing and found that PM2.5 is still the major contributor to the deterioration of air quality in Beijing.
Abstract: New ambient air quality standards were released in 2012 and implemented in 2013 with real time monitoring data publication of six atmospheric pollutants: particulate matter (PM)2.5, PM10, O3, SO2, NO2 and CO. According to the new standards, Beijing began to publicize real-time monitoring data of 35 monitoring stations in 2013. In this study, real time concentrations of all six atmospheric pollutants of all 35 monitoring stations were collected from September 2014 to August 2015 to investigate the spatial and temporal pattern of the air quality and atmospheric pollutants. By comparing the annual and seasonal variations of all six pollutants’ concentrations, it was found that particulate matter, especially PM2.5, is still the major contributor to the deterioration of air quality in Beijing. Although the NO2 and O3 concentrations of some stations were still high under certain circumstances, their contributions to air quality index (AQI) were not comparable to those of PM2.5 and PM10. SO2 and CO concentrations have dropped to well below the qualification standards. Winter and autumn were the most polluted seasons for all pollutants except O3, whose concentrations are higher in summer. South and southeast stations were the most polluted compared with the rest of the stations, especially for particulate matter. Wind profile analysis with heavy pollution situations indicates that low speed southwest or east wind situations have the higher possibility of heavy pollution, suggesting that it is highly possible that long-range transportation of air pollutants from south or east neighboring provinces played an important role in the worsening air conditions in Beijing.
TL;DR: A method to evaluate fluctuating pollutant formation from source emissions is developed, which is integrated within an electricity production model and allows for the inclusion of human health impacts into cost-based decisions for power plant operation.
Abstract: Integrating accurate air quality modeling with decision making is hampered by complex atmospheric physics and chemistry and its coupling with atmospheric transport. Existing approaches to model the physics and chemistry accurately lead to significant computational burdens in computing the response of atmospheric concentrations to changes in emissions profiles. By integrating a reduced form of a fully coupled atmospheric model within a unit commitment optimization model, we allow, for the first time to our knowledge, a fully dynamical approach toward electricity planning that accurately and rapidly minimizes both cost and health impacts. The reduced-form model captures the response of spatially resolved air pollutant concentrations to changes in electricity-generating plant emissions on an hourly basis with accuracy comparable to a comprehensive air quality model. The integrated model allows for the inclusion of human health impacts into cost-based decisions for power plant operation. We use the new capability in a case study of the state of Georgia over the years of 2004-2011, and show that a shift in utilization among existing power plants during selected hourly periods could have provided a health cost savings of $175.9 million dollars for an additional electricity generation cost of $83.6 million in 2007 US dollars (USD2007). The case study illustrates how air pollutant health impacts can be cost-effectively minimized by intelligently modulating power plant operations over multihour periods, without implementing additional emissions control technologies.
TL;DR: The London LEZ has not significantly improved air quality within the city, or the respiratory health of the resident population in its first three years of operation, and highlights the need for more robust measures to reduce traffic emissions.
Abstract: The adverse effects of traffic-related air pollution on children’s respiratory health have been widely reported, but few studies have evaluated the impact of traffic-control policies designed to reduce urban air pollution. We assessed associations between traffic-related air pollutants and respiratory/allergic symptoms amongst 8–9 year-old schoolchildren living within the London Low Emission Zone (LEZ). Information on respiratory/allergic symptoms was obtained using a parent-completed questionnaire and linked to modelled annual air pollutant concentrations based on the residential address of each child, using a multivariable mixed effects logistic regression analysis. Exposure to traffic-related air pollutants was associated with current rhinitis: NOx (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00–1.02), NO2 (1.03, 1.00–1.06), PM10 (1.16, 1.04–1.28) and PM2.5 (1.38, 1.08–1.78), all per μg/m3 of pollutant, but not with other respiratory/allergic symptoms. The LEZ did not reduce ambient air pollution levels, or affect the prevalence of respiratory/allergic symptoms over the period studied. These data confirm the previous association between traffic-related air pollutant exposures and symptoms of current rhinitis. Importantly, the London LEZ has not significantly improved air quality within the city, or the respiratory health of the resident population in its first three years of operation. This highlights the need for more robust measures to reduce traffic emissions.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined long-term measurements of major criteria pollutants concentrations in an urban station in South-Eastern Mediterranean, in Nicosia- Cyprus, which is susceptible both to transboundary air pollution transport from Sahara-dust events as well as to evaporative transport of sea-sprays.
02 Dec 2015
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an overview of hazardous air pollutants and the approach to understanding and regulating them, and provide access to regulations for industrial sources of air toxics, such as chemical plants.
Abstract: This area will provide an overview of hazardous air pollutants and EPA's approach to understanding and regulating them. The area will have access to regulations for industrial sources of air toxics.
TL;DR: This study provides additional evidence that mortalities and hospital admissions for IHD are significantly associated with air pollution, however, it cannot attribute these health effects to a specific air pollutant, owing to high collinearity between some air pollutants.
TL;DR: In this paper, the rescaled range (R / S ) analysis was used for analyzing the statistical persistence of air pollutants in Mexico City, and the results showed that long-range persistence is not a uniform property over a wide range of time scales, from days to months.
Abstract: The rescaled range ( R / S ) analysis was used for analyzing the statistical persistence of air pollutants in Mexico City. The air-pollution time series consisted of hourly observations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter obtained at the Mexico City downtown monitoring station during 1999–2014. The results showed that long-range persistence is not a uniform property over a wide range of time scales, from days to months. In fact, although the air pollutant concentrations exhibit an average persistent behavior, environmental (e.g., daily and yearly) and socio-economic (e.g., daily and weekly) cycles are reflected in the dependence of the persistence strength as quantified in terms of the Hurst exponent. It was also found that the Hurst exponent exhibits time variations, with the ozone and nitrate oxide concentrations presenting some regularity, such as annual cycles. The persistence dynamics of the pollutant concentrations increased during the rainy season and decreased during the dry season. The time and scale dependences of the persistence properties provide some insights in the mechanisms involved in the internal dynamics of the Mexico City atmosphere for accumulating and dissipating dangerous air pollutants. While in the short-term individual pollutants dynamics seems to be governed by specific mechanisms, in the long-term (for monthly and higher scales) meteorological and seasonal mechanisms involved in atmospheric recirculation seem to dominate the dynamics of all air pollutant concentrations.
20 Dec 2015
TL;DR: Air pollution and health effects / , Air pollution and Health effects /, کتابخانه دیجیتال جندی شاپور اهواز
Abstract: Air pollution and health effects / , Air pollution and health effects / , کتابخانه دیجیتال جندی شاپور اهواز
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors presented an urban environmental quality health index based on noise levels and air pollutant concentrations, which is calculated through a multi-criteria combination of noise and air pollutants concentrations, where trade-off is allowed.
TL;DR: The Software for Model Attainment Test-Community Edition (SMAT-CE), developed for demonstrating attainment of air quality standards of O3 and PM2.5, improves computational efficiency and provides a number of advanced visualization and analytical functionalities on an integrated GIS platform.
Abstract: Due to the increasingly stringent standards, it is important to assess whether the proposed emission reduction will result in ambient concentrations that meet the standards. The Software for Model Attainment Test—Community Edition (SMAT-CE) is developed for demonstrating attainment of air quality standards of O 3 and PM 2.5 . SMAT-CE improves computational efficiency and provides a number of advanced visualization and analytical functionalities on an integrated GIS platform. SMAT-CE incorporates historical measurements of air quality parameters and simulated air pollutant concentrations under a number of emission inventory scenarios to project the level of compliance to air quality standards in a targeted future year. An application case study of the software based on the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) shows that SMAT-CE is capable of demonstrating the air quality attainment of annual PM 2.5 and 8-hour O 3 for a proposed emission control policy.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focused on variations of air pollutant concentrations viz., O3, nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and black carbon (BC) at a tropical urban site located in the Deccan plateau region with semi-arid climate.
Abstract: Increasing concentration of tropospheric ozone (O3) is a serious air pollution problem faced commonly by the urban people. The present study emphasizes on variations of air pollutant concentrations viz., O3, nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and black carbon (BC) at a tropical urban site located in the Deccan plateau region with semi-arid climate. The air monitoring site revealed typical diurnal/seasonal trends attributing to the complex chemistry of surface O3 formation from its precursors. Role of SO2 in the formation of free radical (
$$ {\text{HO}}_{2}^{ \cdot } $$
) and its impact on O3 concentration is distinguished part of the study. The results showed the highest mean O3 in summer (57.5 ± 15.2 ppbv) followed by winter and monsoon. Observations of BC aerosols showed the highest mean value during winter (8.2 ± 2 μg m−3) and the lowest in monsoon (4.2 ± 1 μg m−3). Besides local influences, long-range transport of air masses were also studied by simulating back trajectories at different elevations during the study period. Furthermore, statistical analysis and modeling was performed with both linear (regression) and nonlinear (neural network) methods.
TL;DR: In this article, the performance of AERMOD is evaluated for prediction of oxide of nitrogen (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter, having the diameter ≤ 10μm (PM10).
Abstract: Air quality models (AQMs) play an important role in prediction and forecasting of air pollutant concentrations which are essential components for urban air quality management. Applicability of advanced AQM like AERMOD is well established in developed world where sufficient input data are available. However, it is limited in developing countries due to lack of adequate and reliable data. The present study is focused to assess the urban air quality around a heritage site in Amritsar city in India using AERMOD. The performance of AERMOD is evaluated for prediction of oxide of nitrogen (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter, having the diameter ≤10 μm (PM10). It is observed from the results that predicted pollutant concentrations are in satisfactory limits. The index of agreement (d) values estimated for NOx, SO2 and PM10 are 0.57, 0.51 and 0.50, respectively, indicating satisfactory performance of AERMOD. Similarly, other statistical descriptors also indicate its satisfactory performance in predicting the pollutant concentrations. Further, source apportionment of urban air pollutants has also been carried out using AERMOD. Besides, air quality management practices are also evaluated based on three what-if scenarios viz. (i) Introduction of battery-operated vehicles within the walled city, (ii) change in traffic movement and (iii) installation of air pollution control equipment in the free kitchen. It has been observed that after implementing the scenarios all together, PM10, NOx and SO2 concentrations reduce by 2.7, 9.8 and 7.0 %, respectively.
TL;DR: Investigation of ambient air quality at three communities within the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta, Canada found air quality in Fort Chipewyan was much better and quite separate in terms of absence of factors influencing criteria air pollutant concentrations at the other community stations.
TL;DR: In this article, a model to predict air pollutants' concentrations was developed by implementing spectral decomposition of time series data, obtained by Kolmogorov-Zurbenko filter, in Artificial Neural Networks (ANN).
Abstract: A model to predict air pollutants' concentrations was developed by implementing spectral decomposition of time series data, obtained by Kolmogorov–Zurbenko filter, in Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). This model was utilized to separate and individually predict three spectral components of air pollutants' time series of short, seasonal, and long-term. The best set of input variable was selected by evaluating the significance of different input variables while modeling different time series components. Moreover, different possible approaches for constructing such models were examined. Performance of the constructed model to predict air pollutants' level at a central location in Tehran, Iran, which is one of the most polluted cities in the world, was assessed. The constructed model showed firm and reliable performance in modeling and predicting the two selected air pollutants of NOx and PM10. The R2 between predicted and observed values were ∼0.90 for most cases. It was shown that the developed mod...
TL;DR: Air quality before, during and after a temporary roadway blockage event in Hong Kong that took place during Hong Kong protests from late September to mid-December, 2014 is evaluated to highlight the needs to remove seasonal and meteorological change when examining air pollution data.
TL;DR: These results suggest moderately strong associations between air pollutant concentrations and respiratory difficulties among asthmatic children and adolescents and less consistent for other health outcomes.
Abstract: Aim: The Ostrava region suffers from high levels of air pollution during winter inversions. We investigated the association between short-term elevations of air pollutant concentrations and worsening of respiratory problems, use of asthma medication and restriction of daily activities in asthmatic patients in Ostrava. Methods: One-hundred and forty-seven child and adolescent patients (aged 6-18 years) with a confirmed diagnosis of mild to moderate persistent asthma were included in the study. Participants' parents completed diaries covering the period of November 2013 to February 2014; this analysis included 18,228 person-days. Daily smoothed maps of outdoor concentrations of particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) were constructed from routine monitoring data, and participants' daily exposures were estimated on the basis of time spent at home and at school. The associations between health outcomes and exposure to air pollutants were estimated using the multiple logistic regression method. Results: The odds ratios (OR) of the combined outcome for wheezing and/or difficulty in breathing, per 10 µg/m3 increase in the mean 24-h exposure were 1.07 (95% confidence interval 1.04-1.11) for PM10, 1.30 (1.18-1.44) for NO2, and 1.37 (1.18-1.59) for SO2. Additional inhaler use (in addition to usual medication) was also more frequent at higher air pollutant concentrations; the odds ratios per 10 µg/m3 increase in the mean 24-h exposure were 1.05 (1.02-1.07) for PM10, 1.19 (1.10-1.30) for NO2, and 1.26 (1.11-1.43) for SO2. Associations were less consistent for other health outcomes. Conclusions: These results suggest moderately strong associations between air pollutant concentrations and respiratory difficulties among asthmatic children and adolescents. More detailed analyses are required to confirm these preliminary findings.