Today we review a paper that reported on a two year study using handheld monitors at 25 stops near Pittsburg, a highly industrialized area in the eastern USA. The design and results of the study may prove very useful in developing air quality networks in other cities, as well as providing clues to the timing and severity of short term pollution episodes which may have significant health impacts.
Key Quotes:
“A mobile air monitoring study was designed and implemented in morning and afternoon hours in the summer and winter (2010-2011) to explore the within-neighborhood spatial and temporal (within-day and between-day) variability in PM2.5 and PM10.. We measured PM2.5 and PM10 at specified locations along a fixed route of 25 stops using continuous instruments, during multiple weekday mornings and afternoons, in both seasons”
“Mobile monitoring can be built in as a preliminary step of any air pollution field study design because it provides a better representation of local air pollution, providing confidence in placement of stationary air monitors in a neighborhood..'
- "mobile monitoring is cost-effective. The route can be customized to focus on particular areas of concern, such as high traffic roads or neighborhood fixed sources"
- "concentrations are typically measured at short intervals using continuous instruments which, with good quality-control efforts, can provide information about short-term peak exposures associated with adverse acute health effects"
- "mobile monitoring can also be used to validate conceptual dispersion models by capturing data at multiple points downwind of the source, under varying windspeed and direction conditions"
- leveraging the repeated measures andintegrating meteorology and land use characteristics, mobile monitoring data can be used to more richly characterize spatial variability throughout the region”
“Our measurements of PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in and around Braddock, PA, during summer and winter months 2010–2011, highlight the impact of summer morning inversion events on particulate pollution”
“Our approach provided the foundation for the design of a longer-term air pollution monitoring strategy ….city-wide sampling will be performed Monday through Friday during potential morning inversion hours (6 to 11 AM) using eight stationary ..randomized and spatially re-allocated each week, over six weeks each season, to estimate PM2.5 in concentrations capturing the range of elevation, proximity to industry, and traffic density across the Pittsburgh metropolitan area”
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