Showing papers on "Air quality index published in 2017"
TL;DR: Read as discussed by the authors is a web-based suite of tools for producing air parcel trajectory and dispersion model results and displaying meteorological data, and it provides a "quasi-operational" portal to run the HYSPLIT atmospheric transport/dispersion model and interpret its results.
Abstract: Air quality forecasters, emergency responders, aviation interests, government agencies, and the atmospheric research community are among those who require access to tools to analyze and predict the transport and dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere. Because of this need, the unique web-based Real-time Environmental Applications and Display sYstem (READY) has been under continuous development since 1997 to provide access to a suite of tools for producing air parcel trajectory and dispersion model results and displaying meteorological data. READY provides a “quasi-operational” portal to run the HYSPLIT atmospheric transport and dispersion model and interpret its results. Typical user applications include modeling the release of hazardous pollutants and volcanic ash, forest fire and prescribed burn smoke forecasting, poor air quality events, and various climatological studies. In addition, READY provides the user with quick access to meteorological data interpolated to the location of interest, helping in the interpretation of the HYSPLIT model results.
1,035 citations
TL;DR: This review summarizes the main findings from published papers on the characteristics and sources and processes of ozone and ozone precursors in the boundary layer of urban and rural areas of China, including concentration levels, seasonal variation, meteorology conducive to photochemistry and pollution transport, key production and loss processes, ozone dependence on nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, and the effects of ozone on crops and human health.
952 citations
TL;DR: The aim of this work was to comprehensively review most of the studies published on this topic in China, including literature concerning field measurements, laboratory studies and the impacts of BB indoors and outdoors in China to provide a basis for formulation of policies and regulations by policy makers in China.
772 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors combine four global models to estimate premature mortality caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution as a result of atmospheric transport and the production and consumption of goods and services in different world regions.
Abstract: Millions of people die every year from diseases caused by exposure to outdoor air pollution. Some studies have estimated premature mortality related to local sources of air pollution, but local air quality can also be affected by atmospheric transport of pollution from distant sources. International trade is contributing to the globalization of emission and pollution as a result of the production of goods (and their associated emissions) in one region for consumption in another region. The effects of international trade on air pollutant emissions, air quality and health have been investigated regionally, but a combined, global assessment of the health impacts related to international trade and the transport of atmospheric air pollution is lacking. Here we combine four global models to estimate premature mortality caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution as a result of atmospheric transport and the production and consumption of goods and services in different world regions. We find that, of the 3.45 million premature deaths related to PM2.5 pollution in 2007 worldwide, about 12 per cent (411,100 deaths) were related to air pollutants emitted in a region of the world other than that in which the death occurred, and about 22 per cent (762,400 deaths) were associated with goods and services produced in one region for consumption in another. For example, PM2.5 pollution produced in China in 2007 is linked to more than 64,800 premature deaths in regions other than China, including more than 3,100 premature deaths in western Europe and the USA; on the other hand, consumption in western Europe and the USA is linked to more than 108,600 premature deaths in China. Our results reveal that the transboundary health impacts of PM2.5 pollution associated with international trade are greater than those associated with long-distance atmospheric pollutant transport.
685 citations
TL;DR: An exhaustive evaluation of 24 identical units of a commercial low-cost sensor platform against CEN (European Standardization Organization) reference analyzers, evaluating their measurement capability over time and a range of environmental conditions shows that their performance varies spatially and temporally.
607 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined published literature on neighbourhood air quality modifications by green interventions and provided a better understanding of the interactions between vegetation and surrounding built-up environments and ascertain means of reducing local air pollution exposure using green infrastructure.
563 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the major advances in aerosol measurements, PBL processes and their interactions with each other through complex feedback mechanisms, and highlight the priorities for future studies.
Abstract: Air quality is concerned with pollutants in both the gas phase and solid or liquid phases. The latter are referred to as aerosols, which are multifaceted agents affecting air quality, weather and climate through many mechanisms. Unlike gas pollutants, aerosols interact strongly with meteorological variables with the strongest interactions taking place in the planetary boundary layer (PBL). The PBL hosting the bulk of aerosols in the lower atmosphere is affected by aerosol radiative effects. Both aerosol scattering and absorption reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the ground and thus reduce the sensible heat fluxes that drive the diurnal evolution of the PBL. Moreover, aerosols can increase atmospheric stability by inducing a temperature inversion as a result of both scattering and absorption of solar radiation, which suppresses dispersion of pollutants and leads to further increases in aerosol concentration in the lower PBL. Such positive feedback is especially strong during severe pollution events. Knowledge of the PBL is thus crucial for understanding the interactions between air pollution and meteorology. A key question is how the diurnal evolution of the PBL interacts with aerosols, especially in vertical directions, and affects air quality. We review the major advances in aerosol measurements, PBL processes and their interactions with each other through complex feedback mechanisms, and highlight the priorities for future studies.
495 citations
TL;DR: Though the air quality has been improving recent years, PM2.5 pollution in wintertime is worsening, especially in the Northern China, and more scientific air quality index standards are needed.
482 citations
TL;DR: Experimental studies indicate that some pollutants have more harmful cardiovascular effects, such as combustion-derived PM2.5 and ultrafine particles, and promotion of safer air quality appears to be a new challenge in cardiovascular disease prevention.
464 citations
TL;DR: Air pollution characteristics and their relation to multi-scale meteorological conditions during 2014-2015 in 31 provincial capital cities in China were analysed, indicating that the improvement in air quality was caused by emission controls.
461 citations
TL;DR: This work equipped Google Street View vehicles with a fast-response pollution measurement platform and repeatedly sampled every street in a 30-km2 area of Oakland, CA, developing the largest urban air quality data set of its type, revealing stable, persistent pollution patterns with surprisingly sharp small-scale variability attributable to local sources.
Abstract: Air pollution affects billions of people worldwide, yet ambient pollution measurements are limited for much of the world Urban air pollution concentrations vary sharply over short distances (≪1 km) owing to unevenly distributed emission sources, dilution, and physicochemical transformations Accordingly, even where present, conventional fixed-site pollution monitoring methods lack the spatial resolution needed to characterize heterogeneous human exposures and localized pollution hotspots Here, we demonstrate a measurement approach to reveal urban air pollution patterns at 4–5 orders of magnitude greater spatial precision than possible with current central-site ambient monitoring We equipped Google Street View vehicles with a fast-response pollution measurement platform and repeatedly sampled every street in a 30-km2 area of Oakland, CA, developing the largest urban air quality data set of its type Resulting maps of annual daytime NO, NO2, and black carbon at 30 m-scale reveal stable, persistent pollut
TL;DR: It is shown that air pollution reduces hedonic happiness and increases the rate of depressive symptoms, while life satisfaction has little to do with the immediate air quality.
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis1, Norwegian Institute of Public Health2, University of Maryland, College Park3, Joint Global Change Research Institute4, Utrecht University5, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency6, Graz University of Technology7, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research8, Eni9, Central Maine Community College10, National Institute for Environmental Studies11, Polytechnic University of Milan12
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a set of three air pollution narratives that describe high, central, and low pollution control ambitions over the 21st century, which are then translated into quantitative guidance for use in integrated assessment models.
Abstract: Emissions of air pollutants such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides and particulates have significant health impacts as well as effects on natural and anthropogenic ecosystems. These same emissions also can change atmospheric chemistry and the planetary energy balance, thereby impacting global and regional climate. Long-term scenarios for air pollutant emissions are needed as inputs to global climate and chemistry models, and for analysis linking air pollutant impacts across sectors. In this paper we present methodology and results for air pollutant emissions in Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) scenarios. We first present a set of three air pollution narratives that describe high, central, and low pollution control ambitions over the 21st century. These narratives are then translated into quantitative guidance for use in integrated assessment models. The resulting pollutant emission trajectories under the SSP scenarios cover a wider range than the scenarios used in previous international climate model comparisons. In the SSP3 and SSP4 scenarios, where economic, institutional and technological limitations slow air quality improvements, global pollutant emissions over the 21st century can be comparable to current levels. Pollutant emissions in the SSP1 scenarios fall to low levels due to the assumption of technological advances and successful global action to control emissions.
TL;DR: Satellite observations are used to show that China and India are on opposite trajectories for sulfurous pollution, suggesting effective SO2 control in China and lack thereof in India.
Abstract: Severe haze is a major public health concern in China and India. Both countries rely heavily on coal for energy, and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emitted from coal-fired power plants and industry is a major pollutant contributing to their air quality problems. Timely, accurate information on SO2 sources is a required input to air quality models for pollution prediction and mitigation. However, such information has been difficult to obtain for these two countries, as fast-paced changes in economy and environmental regulations have often led to unforeseen emission changes. Here we use satellite observations to show that China and India are on opposite trajectories for sulfurous pollution. Since 2007, emissions in China have declined by 75% while those in India have increased by 50%. With these changes, India is now surpassing China as the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic SO2. This finding, not predicted by emission scenarios, suggests effective SO2 control in China and lack thereof in India. Despite this, haze remains severe in China, indicating the importance of reducing emissions of other pollutants. In India, ~33 million people now live in areas with substantial SO2 pollution. Continued growth in emissions will adversely affect more people and further exacerbate morbidity and mortality.
TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors used the first long-term datasets available in relation to PM2.5 levels, obtained from a year-long monitoring program of concentrations utilizing 945 monitoring stations in 190 cities in China in 2014.
TL;DR: The control policies issued before 2010 are insufficient to improve PM2.5 air quality notably in future, an optimal mix of energy-saving and end-of-pipe control measures should be implemented, more ambitious control policies for NMVOC and NH3 should be enforced, and special control measures in winter should be applied.
TL;DR: It is recommended that priority areas for future national air pollution control policies be adjusted to better reflect the spatial hotspots of health burdens, and satellite-based exposure and health impact assessments can be a useful tool for tracking progress on both air quality and population health burden reductions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors applied exploratory spatial data analysis and the spatial Durbin model (SDM) to analyze the spatial distribution and variation pattern of the AQI and quantitatively estimate the contributions and spatial spillovers of different natural and anthropogenic factors on the air quality of 289 prefecture-level cities in 2014.
TL;DR: The results indicate that the data fusion method provides a robust way of extracting useful information from uncertain sensor data using only a time-invariant model dataset and the knowledge contained within an entire sensor network.
Harvard University1, Langley Research Center2, University of Alabama in Huntsville3, Goddard Space Flight Center4, Finnish Meteorological Institute5, University of California, Berkeley6, National Center for Atmospheric Research7, Saint Louis University8, National Autonomous University of Mexico9, University of Maryland, Baltimore County10, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory11, Yonsei University12, Dalhousie University13, York University14, Environment Canada15, Jet Propulsion Laboratory16, University of Edinburgh17, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration18, Spanish National Research Council19, United States Environmental Protection Agency20, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute21, European Space Agency22, University of Nebraska–Lincoln23
TL;DR: TEMPO was selected in 2012 by NASA as the first Earth Venture Instrument, for launch between 2018 and 2021, and it will measure atmospheric pollution for greater North America from space using ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: TEMPO was selected in 2012 by NASA as the first Earth Venture Instrument, for launch between 2018 and 2021. It will measure atmospheric pollution for greater North America from space using ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy. TEMPO observes from Mexico City, Cuba, and the Bahamas to the Canadian oil sands, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, hourly and at high spatial resolution (~2.1 km N/S×4.4 km E/W at 36.5°N, 100°W). TEMPO provides a tropospheric measurement suite that includes the key elements of tropospheric air pollution chemistry, as well as contributing to carbon cycle knowledge. Measurements are made hourly from geostationary (GEO) orbit, to capture the high variability present in the diurnal cycle of emissions and chemistry that are unobservable from current low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that measure once per day. The small product spatial footprint resolves pollution sources at sub-urban scale. Together, this temporal and spatial resolution improves emission inventories, monitors population exposure, and enables effective emission-control strategies. TEMPO takes advantage of a commercial GEO host spacecraft to provide a modest cost mission that measures the spectra required to retrieve ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), formaldehyde (H2CO), glyoxal (C2H2O2), bromine monoxide (BrO), IO (iodine monoxide),water vapor, aerosols, cloud parameters, ultraviolet radiation, and foliage properties. TEMPO thus measures the major elements, directly or by proxy, in the tropospheric O3 chemistry cycle. Multi-spectral observations provide sensitivity to O3 in the lowermost troposphere, substantially reducing uncertainty in air quality predictions. TEMPO quantifies and tracks the evolution of aerosol loading. It provides these near-real-time air quality products that will be made publicly available. TEMPO will launch at a prime time to be the North American component of the global geostationary constellation of pollution monitoring together with the European Sentinel-4 (S4) and Korean Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) instruments.
TL;DR: This review presents recent developments in the search for novel porous materials with high methane storage capacities, and both carbon-based materials and metal-organic frameworks are considered to be the most promising materials for natural gas storage, as they exhibit properties such as large surface areas and micropore volumes, that favor a high adsorption capacity fornatural gas.
Abstract: Climate change, global warming, urban air pollution, energy supply uncertainty and depletion, and rising costs of conventional energy sources are, among others, potential socioeconomic threats that our community faces today. Transportation is one of the primary sectors contributing to oil consumption and global warming, and natural gas (NG) is considered to be a relatively clean transportation fuel that can significantly improve local air quality, reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and decrease the energy dependency on oil sources. Internal combustion engines (ignited or compression) require only slight modifications for use with natural gas; rather, the main problem is the relatively short driving distance of natural-gas-powered vehicles due to the lack of an appropriate storage method for the gas, which has a low energy density. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has set some targets for NG storage capacity to obtain a reasonable driving range in automotive applications, ruling out the option of storing ...
TL;DR: The results suggest that O3 formation is VOC-limited in major urban areas of China, and more efficient OFP-based and localized VOC control measures should be implemented, instead of the current mass- based and nationally uniform policies.
Abstract: Ozone (O3) pollution is becoming increasingly severe in China. In addition, our limited understanding of the relationship between O3 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), is an obstacle to improving air quality. By developing an improved source-oriented speciated VOC emission inventory in 2013, we estimated the ozone formation potential (OFP) and investigated its characteristics in China. Besides, a comparison was made between our estimates and space-based observations from the ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Aura satellite. According to our estimates, m-/p-xylene, ethylene, formaldehyde, toluene, and propene were the five species that had the largest potential to form ozone, and on-road vehicles, industrial processes, biofuel combustion, and surface coating were the key contributing sectors. Among different regions of China, the North China Plain, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta had the highest OFP values. Our results suggest tha...
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive review on the synergistic effect of different air purification technologies, air filtration theory, materials and standards is presented, which aims to drive the future of air filter technology research and development in achieving sustainable and healthy building ventilation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated the air quality and health benefits associated with this stringent policy during 2013-2015 by using surface PM2.5 concentrations estimated from a three-stage data fusion model and cause-specific integrated exposure-response functions.
Abstract: Aggressive emission control measures were taken by the Chinese government after the promulgation of the 'Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan' in 2013. Here we evaluated the air quality and health benefits associated with this stringent policy during 2013–2015 by using surface PM2.5 concentrations estimated from a three-stage data fusion model and cause-specific integrated exposure–response functions. The population-weighted annual mean PM2.5 concentrations decreased by 21.5% over China during 2013–2015, reducing from 60.5 in 2013 to 47.5 μg m−3 in 2015. Subsequently, the national PM2.5-attributable mortality decreased from 1.22 million (95% CI: 1.05, 1.37) in 2013 to 1.10 million (95% CI: 0.95, 1.25) in 2015, which is a 9.1% reduction. The limited health benefits compared to air quality improvements are mainly due to the supralinear responses of mortality to PM2.5 over the high concentration end of the concentration–response functions. Our study affirms the effectiveness of China's recent air quality policy; however, due to the nonlinear responses of mortality to PM2.5 variations, current policies should remain in place and more stringent measures should be implemented to protect public health.
TL;DR: In this paper, the results obtained with a recently developed lower-cost air quality-sensor system are reported, and the results substantiate the potential for distributed air pollution measurements that could be enabled with these sensors.
Abstract: . The environments in which we live, work, and play are subject to enormous variability in air pollutant concentrations. To adequately characterize air quality (AQ), measurements must be fast (real time), scalable, and reliable (with known accuracy, precision, and stability over time). Lower-cost air-quality-sensor technologies offer new opportunities for fast and distributed measurements, but a persistent characterization gap remains when it comes to evaluating sensor performance under realistic environmental sampling conditions. This limits our ability to inform the public about pollution sources and inspire policy makers to address environmental justice issues related to air quality. In this paper, initial results obtained with a recently developed lower-cost air-quality-sensor system are reported. In this project, data were acquired with the ARISense integrated sensor package over a 4.5-month time interval during which the sensor system was co-located with a state-operated (Massachusetts, USA) air quality monitoring station equipped with reference instrumentation measuring the same pollutant species. This paper focuses on validating electrochemical (EC) sensor measurements of CO, NO, NO2, and O3 at an urban neighborhood site with pollutant concentration ranges (parts per billion by volume, ppb; 5 min averages, ±1σ): [CO] = 231 ± 116 ppb (spanning 84–1706 ppb), [NO] = 6.1 ± 11.5 ppb (spanning 0–209 ppb), [NO2] = 11.7 ± 8.3 ppb (spanning 0–71 ppb), and [O3] = 23.2 ± 12.5 ppb (spanning 0–99 ppb). Through the use of high-dimensional model representation (HDMR), we show that interference effects derived from the variable ambient gas concentration mix and changing environmental conditions over three seasons (sensor flow-cell temperature = 23.4 ± 8.5 °C, spanning 4.1 to 45.2 °C; and relative humidity = 50.1 ± 15.3 %, spanning 9.8–79.9 %) can be effectively modeled for the Alphasense CO-B4, NO-B4, NO2-B43F, and Ox-B421 sensors, yielding (5 min average) root mean square errors (RMSE) of 39.2, 4.52, 4.56, and 9.71 ppb, respectively. Our results substantiate the potential for distributed air pollution measurements that could be enabled with these sensors.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the air quality improvement through several green infrastructure (GI) scenarios consisting of trees, green roofs and green walls considering a case study area in Melbourne, Australia by using the i-Tree Eco software.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the effect of low emission zones on air quality and birth outcomes in Germany and showed that the introduction of the most restrictive type of low-emission zone decreases average levels of fine particulate matter by about 4 percent and by up to 8 percent at a city's highest-polluting monitor.
TL;DR: In this article, the NOxBudget Program (NBP), an important cap-and-trade market for nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions, a key ingredient in ozone air pollution, is studied.
Abstract: The demand for air quality depends on health impacts and defensive investments that improvehealth, but little research assesses the empirical importance of defenses. We study the NOxBudget Program (NBP), an important cap-and-trade market for nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions,a key ingredient in ozone air pollution. A rich quasi-experiment suggests that the NBP decreasedNOx emissions, ambient ozone concentrations, pharmaceutical expenditures, and mortality rates.Reductions in pharmaceutical purchases and mortality are valued at about $800 million and $1.5billion annually, respectively, in a region covering 19 Eastern and Midwestern United States;these findings suggest that defensive investments account for more than one-third of thewillingness-to-pay for reductions in NOx emissions. Further, the NBP’s estimated benefits easilyexceed its costs and instrumental variable estimates indicate that the estimated benefits of NOx reductions are substantial.
TL;DR: A comprehensive review of published results from the last 30 years regarding the sources and atmospheric characteristics of particles and ozone in the Metropolitan Area of Sao Paulo (MASP) is presented in this paper.