scholarly journals Mapping Modeled Exposure of Wildland Fire Smoke for Human Health Studies in California

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia D. Koman ◽  
Michael Billmire ◽  
Kirk R. Baker ◽  
Ricardo de Majo ◽  
Frank J. Anderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Average Concentration ◽  
Atmospheric Modeling ◽  
Smoke Exposure ◽  
Geographic Scale ◽  
Fire Smoke ◽  
Model Predictions ◽  
Health Studies ◽  
The Impact

Wildland fire smoke exposure affects a broad proportion of the U.S. population and is increasing due to climate change, settlement patterns and fire seclusion. Significant public health questions surrounding its effects remain, including the impact on cardiovascular disease and maternal health. Using atmospheric chemical transport modeling, we examined general air quality with and without wildland fire smoke PM2.5. The 24-h average concentration of PM2.5 from all sources in 12-km gridded output from all sources in California (2007–2013) was 4.91 μg/m3. The average concentration of fire-PM2.5 in California by year was 1.22 μg/m3 (~25% of total PM2.5). The fire-PM2.5 daily mean was estimated at 4.40 μg/m3 in a high fire year (2008). Based on the model-derived fire-PM2.5 data, 97.4% of California’s population lived in a county that experienced at least one episode of high smoke exposure (“smokewave”) from 2007–2013. Photochemical model predictions of wildfire impacts on daily average PM2.5 carbon (organic and elemental) compared to rural monitors in California compared well for most years but tended to over-estimate wildfire impacts for 2008 (2.0 µg/m3 bias) and 2013 (1.6 µg/m3 bias) while underestimating for 2009 (−2.1 µg/m3 bias). The modeling system isolated wildfire and PM2.5 from other sources at monitored and unmonitored locations, which is important for understanding population exposure in health studies. Further work is needed to refine model predictions of wildland fire impacts on air quality in order to increase confidence in the model for future assessments. Atmospheric modeling can be a useful tool to assess broad geographic scale exposure for epidemiologic studies and to examine scenario-based health impacts.

scholarly journals Measuring acute pulmonary responses to occupational wildland fire smoke exposure using exhaled breath condensate

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chieh-Ming Wu ◽  
Anna Adetona ◽  
Chi (Chuck) Song ◽  
Luke Naeher ◽  
Olorunfemi Adetona
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Exhaled Breath Condensate ◽  
Smoke Exposure ◽  
Exhaled Breath ◽  
Fire Smoke ◽  
Breath Condensate

scholarly journals Efficiency and Eco-Costs of Air Purifiers in Terms of Improving Microbiological Indoor Air Quality in Dwellings—A Case Study

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Brągoszewska ◽  
Magdalena Bogacka ◽  
Krzysztof Pikoń
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Pollution Prevention ◽  
Average Concentration ◽  
Environmental Cost ◽  
Bacterial Aerosol ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ecological Cost

Air pollution, a by-product of economic growth, generates an enormous environmental cost in Poland. The issue of healthy living spaces and indoor air quality (IAQ) is a global concern because people spend approximately 90% of their time indoors. An increasingly popular method to improve IAQ is to use air purifiers (APs). Indoor air is often polluted by bioaerosols (e.g., viruses, bacteria, fungi), which are a major concern for public health. This work presents research on culturable bacterial aerosol (CBA) samples collected from dwellings with or without active APs during the 2019 summer season. The CBA samples were collected using a six-stage Andersen cascade impactor (ACI). The CBA concentrations were expressed as Colony Forming Units (CFU) per cubic metre of air. The average concentration of CBA in dwellings when the AP was active was 450–570 CFU/m3, whereas the average concentration when the AP was not active was 920–1000 CFU/m3. IAQ, when the APs were active, was on average almost 50% better than in cases where there were no procedures to decrease the concentration of air pollutants. Moreover, the obtained results of the particle size distribution (PSD) of CBA indicate that the use of APs reduced the proportion of the respirable fraction (the particles < 3.3 µm) by about 16%. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to assess the ecological cost of air purification. Our conceptual approach addresses the impact of indoor air pollution on human health and estimates the ecological cost of APs and air pollution prevention policies.

The impact of the Hazelwood coal mine fire smoke exposure on asthma

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Sasha Taylor ◽  
Brigitte Borg ◽  
Caroline Gao ◽  
David Brown ◽  
Ryan Hoy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coal Mine ◽  
Smoke Exposure ◽  
Mine Fire ◽  
Fire Smoke ◽  
Coal Mine Fire ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Mapping Modeled Exposure of Wildland Fire Smoke for Human Health Studies in California

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Koman ◽  
Michael Billmire ◽  
Kirk Baker ◽  
Ricardo De Majo ◽  
Frank Anderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Smoke ◽  
Health Studies

scholarly journals Creating Clean Air Spaces During Wildland Fire Smoke Episodes: Web Summit Summary

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilliane Davison ◽  
Karoline K. Barkjohn ◽  
Gayle S. W. Hagler ◽  
Amara L. Holder ◽  
Sarah Coefield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Air Filtration ◽  
Wildfire Smoke ◽  
Fire Smoke ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Pollution Events

Effective strategies to reduce indoor air pollutant concentrations during wildfire smoke events are critically needed. Worldwide, communities in areas prone to wildfires may suffer from annual smoke exposure events lasting from days to weeks. In addition, there are many areas of the world where high pollution events are common and where methods employed to reduce exposure to pollution may have relevance to wildfire smoke pollution episodes and vice versa. This article summarizes a recent virtual meeting held by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to share research, experiences, and other information that can inform best practices for creating clean air spaces during wildland fire smoke events. The meeting included presentations on the public health impacts of wildland fire smoke; public health agencies' experiences and resilience efforts; and methods to improve indoor air quality, including the effectiveness of air filtration methods [e.g., building heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and portable, free-standing air filtration systems]. These presentations and related research indicate that filtration has been demonstrated to effectively improve indoor air quality during high ambient air pollution events; however, several research questions remain regarding the longevity and maintenance of filtration equipment during and after smoke events, effects on the pollution mixture, and degree to which adverse health effects are reduced.

scholarly journals Measured and modelled air quality trends in Italy over the period 2003–2010

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria D'Elia ◽  
Gino Briganti ◽  
Lina Vitali ◽  
Antonio Piersanti ◽  
Gaia Righini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Average Concentration ◽  
Chemical Transport Model ◽  
Spatial Coverage ◽  
Significant Downward Trend ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Air pollution harms human health and the environment. Several regulatory efforts and different actions have been taken in the last decades by authorities. Air quality trend analysis represents a valid tool in assessing the impact of these actions taken both at national and local levels. This paper presents for the first time the capability of the Italian national chemical transport model, AMS-MINNI, in capturing the observed concentration trends of three air pollutants, NO2, inhalable particles having diameter less than 10 micrometres (PM10) and O3, in Italy over the period 2003–2010. We firstly analyse the model performance finding it in line with the state of the art of regional models applications. The modelled trends result in a general significant downward trend for the three pollutants and, in comparison with observations, the values of the simulated slopes show the same magnitude for NO2 (in the range −3.0 ÷ −0.5 ug m−3 yr−1), while a smaller variability is detected for PM10 (−1.5 ÷ −0.5 ug m−3 yr−1) and O3-maximum daily 8-hour average concentration (−2.0 ÷ −0.5 ug m−3 yr−1). As a general result, we find a good agreement between modelled and observed trends; moreover, the model allowed to extend both the spatial coverage and the statistical significance of pollutants' concentrations trends with respect to observations, in particular for NO2. We also conduct a qualitative attempt to correlate the temporal concentration trends to meteorological and emission variability. Since no clear tendency in yearly meteorological anomalies (temperature, precipitation, geopotential height) was observed for the period investigated, we focus the discussion of concentrations trends on emissions variations. We point out that, due to the complex links between precursors emissions and air pollutants concentrations, emission reductions do not always result in a corresponding decrease in atmospheric concentrations, especially for those pollutants that are formed in the atmosphere such as O3 and the major fraction of PM10. These complex phenomena are still uncertain and their understanding is of the utmost importance in planning future policies for reducing air pollution and its impacts on health and ecosystems.

scholarly journals Assessment of dicarbonyl contributions to secondary organic aerosols over China using RAMS-CMAQ

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 6481-6495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jialin Li ◽  
Meigen Zhang ◽  
Guiqian Tang ◽  
Yele Sun ◽  
Fangkun Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Total Concentration ◽  
Atmospheric Modeling ◽  
Lower Amount ◽  
The Yellow River ◽  
The South ◽  
China Sea ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The concentration of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is underestimated in current model studies. Recent research suggests that the reactive uptake of dicarbonyls contributes to the production of SOA, although few models have included this pathway. Glyoxal, an important representative component of dicarbonyls in models, is significantly underestimated. We therefore incorporated the reactive uptake of dicarbonyls into the regional air quality modeling system RAMS-CMAQ (the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System-Community Multiscale Air Quality) to evaluate the contribution of dicarbonyls to SOA, and we then assess the impact of the underestimation of glyoxal on the production of SOA in China during two time periods: 3 June to 11 July 2014 (episode 1) and 14 October to 14 November 2014 (episode 2). When the reactive uptake process was added, the modeled mean concentration of SOA in episode 1 increased by 3.65 µg m−3, which explained 34.8 % of the unaccounted-for source of SOA. Meanwhile the increase in the concentration of SOA in episode 2 was 1.82 µg m−3 as a result of the lower liquid water content and the lower amount of dicarbonyls produced from biogenic precursors in the fall. On this basis, when the glyoxal simulation was improved, the modeled mean dicarbonyl-derived SOA (AAQ) increased by more than a factor of 2 in both episodes relative to case 1. AAQ in episode 1 contributed, on average, 60.6 % of the total concentration of SOA and the increase in this contribution represented 69.1 % of the unaccounted-for concentration of SOA, whereas the mean AAQ in episode 2 accounted for 64.5 % of total concentration of SOA. Based on the results, the mean AAQ over China was generally higher in the east than in the west during the two episodes. The highest value (10–15 µg m−3) of episode 1 appeared in the areas around the lower reaches of the Yellow River, whereas the highest value of 5–10 µg m−3 in episode 2 was concentrated over regions from south of the lower reaches of the Yellow River to the south of Guangzhou Province as well as the Sichuan Basin. The contribution of AAQ to the concentration of SOA in episode 1 varied from 10 % to 90 % throughout China, with the highest contributions (70 %–90 %) in the coastal regions and offshore along the East China Sea to the South China Sea and in the southwestern regions. The fraction of AAQ to SOA in episode 2 was in the range of 10 %–80 % over China, with the fraction up to 80 % in a small portion of northeastern China.

scholarly journals Status Update: Is smoke on your mind? Using social media to determine smoke exposure

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonne Ford ◽  
Moira Burke ◽  
William Lassman ◽  
Gabriele Pfister ◽  
Jeffrey R. Pierce
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Smoke Exposure ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Hazard Mapping ◽  
Fire Smoke

Abstract. Exposure to wildland-fire smoke is associated with negative effects on human health. However, these effects are poorly quantified. Accurately attributing health endpoints to wildland-fire smoke requires determining the locations, concentrations, and durations of smoke events. Most current methods for determining these smoke-event properties (ground-based measurements, satellite observations, and chemical-transport modeling) are limited temporally, spatially, and/or by their level of accuracy. In this work, we explore using social-media posts regarding smoke, haze, and air quality from Facebook to determine population-level exposure for the summer of 2015 in the western US. We compare this de-identified, aggregated Facebook data to several other datasets that are commonly used for estimating exposure, such as satellite observations (MODIS aerosol optical depth and Hazard Mapping System smoke plumes), surface particulate-matter measurements, and model (WRF-Chem) simulated surface concentrations. After adding population-weighted spatial smoothing to the Facebook data, this dataset is well-correlated (R2 generally above 0.5) with these other methods in smoke-impacted regions. Removing days with considerable cloud coverage further improves correlations of Facebook data to traditional exposure datasets, which implies that the population is less aware of smoke on cloudy days relative to sunny days. The Facebook dataset is better correlated with surface measurements of PM2.5 at a majority of monitoring sites (163 of 293 sites) than the satellite observations and our model simulation are. We also present an example case for Washington state in 2015, where we combine this Facebook dataset with MODIS observations and WRF-Chem simulated PM2.5 in a regression model. We show that the addition of the Facebook data improves the regression model's ability to predict surface concentrations. This high correlation of the Facebook data with surface monitors and our Washington state example suggests that this social-media-based proxy can be used to estimate smoke exposure in locations without direct ground-based particulate-matter measurements.

scholarly journals Numerical analysis of the impact of agricultural emissions on PM<sub>2.5</sub> in China using a high-resolution ammonia emissions inventory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Han ◽  
Lingyun Zhu ◽  
Mingxu Liu ◽  
Yu Song ◽  
Meigen Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Source Apportionment ◽  
Mass Concentration ◽  
Atmospheric Modeling ◽  
Central China ◽  
High Mass ◽  
Emissions Inventory ◽  
Aerosol Mass Concentration ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. China is one of the largest agricultural countries in the world. The NH3 emissions from agricultural activities in China significantly affect regional air quality and horizontal visibility. To reliably estimate the influence of NH3 on agriculture, a high-resolution agricultural NH3 emissions inventory, compiled with a 1 km × 1 km horizontal resolution, was applied to calculate the NH3 mass burden in China. The key emission factors of this inventory were enhanced by considering the results of many native experiments, and the activity data of spatial and temporal information were updated using statistical data from 2015. Fertilizer and husbandry, as well as farmland ecosystems, livestock waste, crop residue burning, fuel wood combustion, and other NH3 emission sources were included in the inventory. Furthermore, a source apportionment tool, ISAM (Integrated Source Apportionment Method), coupled with the air quality modeling system RAMS-CMAQ (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System and Community Multiscale Air Quality), was applied to capture the contribution of NH3 emitted from total agriculture (Tagr) in China. The aerosol mass concentration in 2015 was simulated, and the results showed that a high mass concentration of NH3, which exceeded 10 μg m−3, appeared mainly in the North China Plain (NCP), Central China (CNC), the Yangtz River Delta (YRD), and the Sichan Basin (SCB), and the annual average contribution of Tagr NH3 to PM2.5 mass burden in China was 14–18 %. Specific to the PM2.5 components, Tagr NH3 provided a major contribution to ammonium formation (87.6 %) but a tiny contribution to sulfate (2.2 %). In addition, several brute-force sensitivity tests were conducted to estimate the impact of Tagr NH3 emissions reduction on the PM2.5 mass burden. Compared with the results of ISAM, it was found that even though the Tagr NH3 only contributed 10.1 % of nitrate under current emissions scenarios, the reduction of nitrate could reach 98.8 % upon removal of the Tagr NH3 emissions. The main reason for this deviation could be that the NH3 contribution to nitrate is small under rich NH3 conditions and large in poor NH3 environments. Thus, the influence of NH3 on nitrate formation could be enhanced with the decrease of ambient NH3 mass concentration.

scholarly journals Special Issue Air Quality and Smoke Management

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1361
Author(s):  
Scott L. Goodrick
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Smoke Management ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Fire Smoke ◽  
Human Health Impacts

The Atmosphere Special Issue “Special Issue Air Quality and Smoke Management” explores our ability to simulate wildland fire smoke events and the potential to link such modeling to future studies of human health impacts [...]

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