scholarly journals Spatial patterns in summertime surface ozone in the Southern Front Range of the U.S. Rocky Mountains

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margot T. Flynn ◽  
Erick J. Mattson ◽  
Daniel A. Jaffe ◽  
Lynne E. Gratz
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Surface Ozone ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Front Range ◽  
Colorado Springs ◽  
Generalized Additive Modeling ◽  
Additive Modeling ◽  
Highly Correlated

Summertime ozone in the Western United States presents a unique public health challenge. Changes in population, background ozone, wildland fire, and local precursor emissions combined with terrain-induced meteorology can affect surface ozone levels and compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). While there is considerable research on ozone in the Northern Front Range Metropolitan Area of Colorado, United States, less is known about the Southern Front Range. In Colorado Springs, approximately 100 km south of Denver, summertime maximum daily 8-h average (MDA8) ozone shows no significant (p < .05) trend at the 5th, 50th, or 95th percentile over the past 20 years. However, the region is at risk of nonattainment with the NAAQS based on observations from 2018 to 2020. From June through September 2018, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment measured hourly ozone at eight sites to characterize the spatial distribution of ozone in Colorado Springs. Mean ozone (±1σ) ranged from 34 ± 19 to 60 ± 9 ppb. The 95th percentile of hourly ozone increased approximately 1.1 ppb per 100 m of elevation, while the amplitudes of mean diurnal profiles decreased with elevation and distance from the interstate. MDA8 ozone was also highly correlated across all sites, and there is little evidence of local photochemical production or ozone transport from Denver. Further, results from generalized additive modeling show that summertime MDA8 in this region is strongly influenced by regional background air and wildfire, with smoke contributing an average of 4–5 ppb to the MDA8. Enhanced MDA8 values due to wildfires were especially pronounced in 2018 and 2020. Lastly, we find that the permanent monitoring sites represent the lower end of observed ozone in the region, suggesting that additional long-term monitoring for public health may be warranted in populated, higher elevation areas.

scholarly journals Surface ozone in the Colorado northern Front Range and the influence of oil and gas development during FRAPPE/DISCOVER-AQ in summer 2014

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. C. Cheadle ◽  
S. J. Oltmans ◽  
G. Pétron ◽  
R. C. Schnell ◽  
E. J. Mattson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Surface Ozone ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Quality Standard ◽  
Front Range ◽  
Oil And Gas Development ◽  
Surface O3

High mixing ratios of ozone (O3) in the northern Front Range (NFR) of Colorado are not limited to the urban Denver area but were also observed in rural areas where oil and gas activity is the primary source of O3 precursors. On individual days, oil and gas O3 precursors can contribute in excess of 30 ppb to O3 growth and can lead to exceedances of the EPA O3 National Ambient Air Quality Standard. Data used in this study were gathered from continuous surface O3 monitors for June–August 2013–2015 as well as additional flask measurements and mobile laboratories that were part of the FRAPPE/DISCOVER-AQ field campaign of July–August 2014. Overall observed O3 levels during the summer of 2014 were lower than in 2013, likely due to cooler and damper weather than an average summer. This study determined the median hourly surface O3 mixing ratio in the NFR on summer days with limited photochemical production to be approximately 45–55 ppb. Mobile laboratory and flask data collected on three days provide representative case studies of different O3 formation environments in and around Greeley, Colorado. Observations of several gases (including methane, ethane, CO, nitrous oxide) along with O3 are used to identify sources of O3 precursor emissions. A July 23 survey demonstrated low O3 (45–60 ppb) while August 3 and August 13 surveys recorded O3 levels of 75–80 ppb or more. August 3 exemplifies influence of moderate urban and high oil and gas O3 precursor emissions. August 13 demonstrates high oil and gas emissions, low agricultural emissions, and CO measurements that were well correlated with ethane from oil and gas, suggesting an oil and gas related activity as a NOx and O3 precursor source. Low isoprene levels indicated that they were not a significant contributor to O3 precursors measured during the case studies.

Can increases in Twitter posts predict increases in cumulative incidence of COVID-19 in the United States? Evidence that social media can inform epidemic surveillance. (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruoyan Sun ◽  
Henna Budhwani
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Cumulative Incidence ◽  
Hot Spots ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Education Attainment ◽  
Public Health Systems ◽  
Per Capita

BACKGROUND Though public health systems are responding rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic, outcomes from publicly available, crowd-sourced big data may assist in helping to identify hot spots, prioritize equipment allocation and staffing, while also informing health policy related to “shelter in place” and social distancing recommendations. OBJECTIVE To assess if the rising state-level prevalence of COVID-19 related posts on Twitter (tweets) is predictive of state-level cumulative COVID-19 incidence after controlling for socio-economic characteristics. METHODS We identified extracted COVID-19 related tweets from January 21st to March 7th (2020) across all 50 states (N = 7,427,057). Tweets were combined with state-level characteristics and confirmed COVID-19 cases to determine the association between public commentary and cumulative incidence. RESULTS The cumulative incidence of COVID-19 cases varied significantly across states. Ratio of tweet increase (p=0.03), number of physicians per 1,000 population (p=0.01), education attainment (p=0.006), income per capita (p = 0.002), and percentage of adult population (p=0.003) were positively associated with cumulative incidence. Ratio of tweet increase was significantly associated with the logarithmic of cumulative incidence (p=0.06) with a coefficient of 0.26. CONCLUSIONS An increase in the prevalence of state-level tweets was predictive of an increase in COVID-19 diagnoses, providing evidence that Twitter can be a valuable surveillance tool for public health.

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