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The MIRADS is a generalized data management system. The feasibility of using MIRADS by the State of Alabama Air Pollution Control Commission is explored. The State's enforcement management system and the emission inventory system were implemented into MIRADS.
The National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC) operated in U.S.’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides the operational forecast guidance for ozone and fine particulate matters with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5μm (PM2.5) over the contiguous 48 U.S. states (CONUS) using the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. The existing NAQFC uses climatological chemical lateral boundary conditions ( CLBCs), which cannot capture pollutant intrusion events originating outside of the model domain. In this study, we developed a model framework to use dynamic CLBCs from the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, version 5 (GEOS) to drive NAQFC. A mapping of the GEOS chemical species to the CMAQ’s Carbon Bond 5 (CB05)-Aero6 species was developed. The utilization of the GEOS dynamic CLBCs in NAQFC showed the best overall performance in simulating the surface observations during the Saharan dust intrusion and Canadian wildfire events in summer 2015.The simulated PM2.5 was improved from 0.18 to 0.37 and the mean bias was reduced from -6.74 μg/m3 to -2.96 μg/m3 over CONUS. Although the effect of CLBCs on the PM2.5 correlation was mainly near the inflow boundary, its impact on the background concentrations reached further inside the domain. The CLBCs could affect background ozone concentrations through the inflows of ozone itself and its precursors, such as CO. It was further found that the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) from satellite retrievals correlated well with the column CO and elemental carbon from GEOS. The satellite-derived AOT CLBCs generally improved the model performance for the wildfire intrusion events during a summer 2018 case study, and demonstrated how satellite observations of atmospheric composition could be used as an alternative method to capture the air quality effects of intrusions when the global model CLBCs, such as GEOS CLBCs, are not available.
A case study of an incoming biomass burning aerosol plume at Ascension Island is analyzed for the peak of the 2017 fire season using satellites, reanalysis and in situ observations. Measurements from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Mobile Facility 1 reveal an abrupt change from relatively clean conditions (~70 parts per billion by volume of carbon monoxide) to a more polluted state (~150 parts per billion by volume of carbon monoxide). Corresponding changes in aerosol size reveal a broadening of size distributions toward larger optical diameters, consistent with the arrival of aged aerosols. Within a 24 h period, black carbon fraction increases ~500% from ~300 ng m e to ~1500 ng m 3 , while light absorption coefficients increase ~300%. Long-range transport of these aerosols is primarily confined between 2 and 5 km above sea level along the northwesterly trade winds. Our results show that the primary driver of increases in aerosol loading over Ascension Island is an intensification of the St. Helena high-pressure system (anticyclone) that leads to a weakening of trade winds and increases westward transport on its northern flank. A better understanding of the complex interactions between air quality, meteorology and long-range aerosol transport is important for future modeling studies focused on aerosol–cloud–radiation interactions over the open ocean and reducing its associated uncertainties.
Water hyacinths, Eichhornia crassipes Mart. Solms, have demonstrated the ability to function as an efficient and inexpensive final filtration system in a secondary domestic sewage lagoon during a three month test period. These plants reduced the suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demanding substances, and other chemical parameters to levels below the standards set by the state pollution control agency. The water hyacinth-covered secondary lagoon utilized in this experiment had a surface area of 0.28 hectare (0.70 acre) with a total capacity of 6.8 million liters (1.5 million gallons), receiving an inflow of 522,100 liters (115,000 gallons) per day from a 1.1 hectare (3.8 acre) aerated primary sewage lagoon. These conditions allowed a retention time of 14 to 21 days depending on the water hyacinth evapotranspiration rates. The desired purity of final sewage effluent can be controlled by the water hyacinth surface area, harvest rate, and the retention time.
During the POLARCAT summer campaign in 2008, two episodes (2 5 July and 7 10 July 2008) occurred where low-pressure systems traveled from Siberia across the Arctic Ocean towards the North Pole. The two cyclones had extensive smoke plumes from Siberian forest fires and anthropogenic sources in East Asia embedded in their associated air masses, creating an excellent opportunity to use satellite and aircraft observations to validate the performance of atmospheric transport models in the Arctic, which is a challenging model domain due to numerical and other complications. Here we compare transport simulations of carbon monoxide (CO) from the Lagrangian transport model FLEXPART and the Eulerian chemical transport model TOMCAT with retrievals of total column CO from the IASI passive infrared sensor onboard the MetOp-A satellite. The main aspect of the comparison is how realistic horizontal and vertical structures are represented in the model simulations. Analysis of CALIPSO lidar curtains and in situ aircraft measurements provide further independent reference points to assess how reliable the model simulations are and what the main limitations are. The horizontal structure of mid-latitude pollution plumes agrees well between the IASI total column CO and the model simulations. However, finer-scale structures are too quickly diffused in the Eulerian model. Applying the IASI averaging kernels to the model data is essential for a meaningful comparison. Using aircraft data as a reference suggests that the satellite data are biased high, while TOMCAT is biased low. FLEXPART fits the aircraft data rather well, but due to added background concentrations the simulation is not independent from observations. The multi-data, multi-model approach allows separating the influences of meteorological fields, model realisation, and grid type on the plume structure. In addition to the very good agreement between simulated and observed total column CO fields, the results also highlight the difficulty to identify a data set that most realistically represents the actual pollution state of the Arctic atmosphere.
Recent efforts in our laboratories have concentrated on the development of an all solid state gas sensor, by combining solid electrolyte (ion exchange membrane) technology with advanced thin film deposition processes. With the proper bias magnitude and polarity these miniature electro-chemical,cells show remarkable current responses for many common pollution gases. Current activity is now focused on complementing a multiple array (matrix) of these solid state sensors, with a digital electronic scanner device possessing "scan-compare-identify-alarm: capability. This innovative approach to multi-component pollutant gas analysis may indeed be the advanced prototype for the "third generation" class of pollution analysis instrumentation so urgently needed in the decade ahead.
Mixing states of aerosol particles are crucial for understanding the role of aerosols in influencing air quality and climate. However, a fundamental understanding of the complex mixing states is still lacking because most traditional analysis techniques only reveal bulk chemical and physical properties with limited surface and 3-D information. In this research, 3-D molecular imaging enabled by ToF-SIMS was used to elucidate the mixing states of PM 2.5 samples obtained from a typical Beijing winter haze event. In light pollution cases, a thin organic layer covers separated inorganic particles, while in serious pollution cases, ion exchange and an organic-inorganic mixing surface on large-area particles were observed. Finally, the new results provide key 3-D molecular information of mixing states, which is highly desirable for reducing uncertainty and bias in representing aerosol-cloud interactions in current Earth System Models, and improving the understanding of aerosols on air quality and human health.
Ozone pollution in the Southeast US involves complex chemistry driven by emissions of anthropogenic nitrogen oxide radicals (NO(x) triple bond NO + NO2) and biogenic isoprene. Model estimates of surface ozone concentrations tend to be biased high in the region and this is of concern for designing effective emission control strategies to meet air quality standards. We use detailed chemical observations from the SEAC(exp 4)RS aircraft campaign in August and September 2013, interpreted with the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model at 0.25 deg x 0.3125 deg horizontal resolution, to better understand the factors controlling surface ozone in the Southeast US. We find that the National Emission Inventory (NEI) for NO(x) from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is too high. This finding is based on SEAC(exp 4)RS observations of NO(x) and its oxidation products, surface network observations of nitrate wet deposition fluxes, and OMI satellite observations of tropospheric NO2 columns. Our results indicate that NEI NO(x) emissions from mobile and industrial sources must be reduced by 30-60%, dependent on the assumption of the contribution by soil NO(x) emissions. Upper-tropospheric NO2 from lightning makes a large contribution to satellite observations of tropospheric NO2 that must be accounted for when using these data to estimate surface NO(x) emissions. We find that only half of isoprene oxidation proceeds by the high-NO(x) pathway to produce ozone; this fraction is only moderately sensitive to changes in NO(x) emissions because isoprene and NO(x) emissions are spatially segregated. GEOS-Chem with reduced NO(x) emissions provides an unbiased simulation of ozone observations from the aircraft and reproduces the observed ozone production efficiency in the boundary layer as derived from a regression of ozone and NO(x) oxidation products. However, the model is still biased high by 6 plus or minus 14 ppb relative to observed surface ozone in the Southeast US. Ozonesondes launched during midday hours show a 7 ppb ozone decrease from 1.5 km to the surface that GEOS-Chem does not capture. This bias may reflect a combination of excessive vertical mixing and net ozone production in the model boundary layer.
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Electrifying heavy-duty trucks reduces on-road diesel emissions but shifts the burden of supplying energy to power-generation facilities. The combined effect of Inflation Reduction Act investments in grid decarbonization and truck electrification will alter the magnitude and distribution of air pollution burdens across the United States. These investments are intended to facilitate a just energy transition, with 40% of the benefits flowing to disadvantaged communities per the Justice40 Initiative. Here we evaluate the combined effects of Inflation Reduction Act grid decarbonization and truck electrification investments on a national scale to determine whether the air pollution benefits would meet this 40% goal for both disadvantaged communities and the most exposed racial–ethnic groups. We find that truck electrification and decarbonization reduce air-pollution-related premature mortality in disadvantaged communities. However, the relative disparity between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged communities increases, suggesting that a disproportionate share of benefits accrue to non-disadvantaged communities. Whereas absolute disparity in grid emissions decreases over time for all racial–ethnic groups, relative disparity remains largely unchanged, with Black populations being the most exposed. Electrifying drayage corridors would result in comparatively large health benefits for disadvantaged communities, suggesting that increasing targeted electrification investments in short-haul routes near urban areas (for example, ports) could be promising.
We statistically assessed temporal variations of observed concentrations of eight atmospheric pollutants (SO2, NO, NO2, NO(y), O3, CO, NH3, and HNO3) at three urban sites and one rural site in the eastern United States for a ten-year period (4 years for NH3). Diurnal/seasonal patterns of observed mean concentrations and their decade-scale trends under different weather conditions were evaluated. Concentrations of pollutants decreased consistently during the observation period (as long as 1997–2013), although nighttime ozone during winter appears to increase because of reduced NO-O3 titration. This study shows that the decay time of major air pollutant concentrations such as SO2 and NO(x) can be short as a few hours to one day. We also identified substantial differences between the mean concentrations of pollutants at clear sky and overcast conditions that could introduce biases into satellite observations. Surface concentrations of SO2 and CO are distinctly higher under cloud free than under overcast conditions by ∼30% and ∼20% respectively. NO2 shows a complex pattern, but demonstrates lower daytime concentrations under cloud-free skies. All of these estimates are important for understanding the chemical climatology of these atmospheric pollutants, especially their diurnal/seasonal cycles under different weather conditions. For four-year measurements, NH3 shows a substantial difference, with clear sky observations roughly a factor of two higher than those under overcast conditions. To track changes in the future, the full daily cycle of atmospheric pollutants monitored by geostationary satellite such as the future TEMPO mission may better capture patterns and trends.
This paper extends the IO-SDA (input–output and structural decomposition analysis) method to decompose the CBAPT (cross-border air pollutant transfer) into different effects, and reveals the status of CBAPT and analyzes influencing factors affecting the CBAPT in China–US trade by comparing China with the US in these factors. This study found that China was a net air pollutant exporter, and this indicates the air pollutants were transferred from the US into China through China–US trade. On the whole, the China energy intensity, China emission coefficient, and import scale effects decreased the CBAPT, whereas the export scale and US emission coefficient effects increased the CBAPT; the influences of export structure, US energy intensity, and import structure on CBAPT were uncertain. The sectoral distribution of effects on the CBAPT in China–US trade was unbalanced, which was mainly concentrated in heavy industry and transportation. The China energy intensity, China emission coefficient, and import scale effects inhibited sectoral CBAPT, and the export scale effect promoted this sectoral transfer. Other effects on the sectoral transfer were negligible. This paper provides some policy suggestions based on empirical results.
The report, prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy West Valley Demonstration Project office (DOE-WVDP), summarizes the environmental protection program at the WVDP for calendar year (CY) 2019. Monitoring and surveillance of the facilities used by the DOE are conducted to verify protection of public health and safety and the environment. The report is a key component of DOE’s effort to keep the public informed of environmental conditions at the WVDP. The quality assurance protocols applied to the environmental monitoring program ensure the validity and accuracy of the monitoring data. In addition to demonstrating compliance with environmental laws, regulations, and directives, evaluation of data collected in 2019 continued to indicate that WVDP activities pose no threat to public health or safety, or to the environment.
Satellite and ground observations detected large variability in nitrogen oxides (NOx) during the 2008 economic recession, but the impact of the recession on air quality has not been quantified. This study combines observed NOx trends and a regional chemical transport model to quantify the impact of the recession on surface ozone (O3) levels over the continental United States. The impact is quantified by simulating O3 concentrations under two emission scenarios: business-as-usual (BAU) and recession. In the BAU case, the emission projection from the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is used to estimate the would-be NOx emission level in 2011. In the recession case, the actual NO2 trends observed from Air Quality System ground monitors and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on the Aura satellite are used to obtain realistic changes in NOx emissions. The model prediction with the recession effect agrees better with ground O3 observations over time and space than the prediction with the BAU emission. The results show that the recession caused a 12ppbv decrease in surface O3 concentration over the eastern United States, a slight increase (0.51ppbv) over the Rocky Mountain region, and mixed changes in the Pacific West. The gain in air quality benefits during the recession, however, could be quickly offset by the much slower emission reduction rate during the post-recession period.
The report, prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy West Valley Demonstration Project office (DOE-WVDP), summarizes the environmental protection program at the WVDP for calendar year (CY) 2021. Monitoring and surveillance of the facilities used by the DOE are conducted to verify protection of public health and safety and the environment. The report is a key component of DOE’s effort to keep the public informed of environmental conditions at the WVDP. The quality assurance protocols applied to the environmental monitoring program ensure the validity and accuracy of the monitoring data. In addition to demonstrating compliance with environmental laws, regulations, and directives, evaluation of data collected in 2021 continued to indicate that WVDP activities pose no threat to public health or safety, or to the environment.
In the U.S., emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants are often developed independently. Here, we describe the GReenhouse gas And Air Pollutants Emissions System (GRA 2 PES), which provides gridded emissions of fossil-fuel carbon dioxide (ffCO 2 ) and 93 air quality (AQ) species for 17 combustion and non-combustion sectors at 4 km × 4 km spatial resolution across the contiguous US. We find that the AQ emissions most spatially correlated with ffCO 2 are nitrogen oxides (NO x , ρ = 0.67), followed by sulfur dioxide (SO 2 , ρ = 0.51), carbon monoxide (CO, ρ = 0.44), and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 , ρ = 0.38). We evaluate GRA 2 PES ffCO 2 emissions with an ensemble of publicly available regional and global inventories at national (Normalized Mean Bias (NMB) = +1.4%), state (NMB = +1.5%, R 2 = 0.98), and urban (NMB = +11.5%, R 2 = 0.97) scales. Nationally, the differences of publicly available inventories from the ensemble average range from −10.0% to +5.7%, and consistency diverges at state and urban scales. We simulate GRA 2 PES ffCO 2 in a particle dispersion model and compare to measurements of radiocarbon ( 14 C)-derived ffCO 2 collected in Los Angeles (August 2021), with results suggesting that GRA 2 PES ffCO 2 may be low by 19% for this city, but well within model-observation differences for other publicly available inventories (−43% to +94%). GRA 2 PES AQ/ffCO 2 ratios converted to concentration space generally agree with field observations (NMB = +4%, log R 2 = 0.90). Lastly, we present a method by which to utilize GRA 2 PES to derive AQ emission fluxes from ffCO 2 emissions.
West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER) for Calendar Year 2020. The report, prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy West Valley Demonstration Project office (DOE-WVDP), summarizes the environmental protection program at the WVDP for calendar year (CY) 2020. Monitoring and surveillance of the facilities used by the DOE are conducted to verify protection of public health and safety and the environment. The report is a key component of DOE’s effort to keep the public informed of environmental conditions at the WVDP. The quality assurance protocols applied to the environmental monitoring program ensure the validity and accuracy of the monitoring data. In addition to demonstrating compliance with environmental laws, regulations, and directives, evaluation of data collected in 2020 continued to indicate that WVDP activities pose no threat to public health or safety, or to the environment.