TY - JOUR
T1 - Ambient fine particulate concentrations and chemical composition at two sampling sites in metropolitan Pittsburgh
T2 - A 2001 intensive summer study
AU - Modey, William K.
AU - Eatough, Delbert J.
AU - Anderson, Richard R.
AU - Martello, Donald V.
AU - Takahama, Satoshi
AU - Lucas, Leonard J.
AU - Davidson, Cliff I.
N1 - Funding Information:
In July 2001, researchers from several universities, research laboratories, and government agencies met to participate in the Pittsburgh Air Quality Study (PAQS), a research program funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Supersite Program of the EPA. This was a 1-month intensive measurement campaign to test and compare innovative particle measurement methods, and to improve our scientific understanding of atmospheric particles. Several sites were included in PAQS, with the main site about 5 km east of downtown Pittsburgh. That location was adjacent to the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) campus in Schenley Park. One of the additional sampling sites was located at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), located in the suburban area about 18 km south of downtown Pittsburgh. This paper compares the diurnal patterns in PM 2.5 concentration and chemical composition (including semi-volatile components lost from particles during sampling) at the PAQS site and the NETL site for samples collected using the Particle Concentrator—Brigham Young University Organic Sampling System (PC-BOSS) ( Modey et al., 2001 ; Lewtas et al., 2001 ).
Funding Information:
The participation of Brigham Young University personnel in the NETL sampling program was funded under a University Coal Research Grant # DE-FG26-99FT40581 from the United States Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory. The research by Carnegie Mellon University was conducted as part of the Pittsburgh Air Quality Study, which was supported by the US Environmental Protection Agency under contract R82806101 and the US Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory under contract DE-FC26-01NT41017. This paper has not been subject to EPA's required peer and policy review, and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency. No official endorsement should be inferred. We express our appreciation for the following NETL staff, Paul C. Rohar, and Karl Waldner for their field support. We also express appreciation to the United States Department of Energy for financial support for Brigham Young University's participation in the CMU PAQS site study. Sincere thanks is also expressed to the Air Resources Laboratory of NOAA for permission to access the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model on the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory's READY web server. Helpful discussions with Juan Cabada, R. Subramanian, Andrey Khlystov, Beth Wittig, Allen Robinson and Spyros Pandis are appreciated.
PY - 2004/6
Y1 - 2004/6
N2 - The concentration and chemical composition of ambient fine particulate material (PM2.5) is reported for two sampling sites in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metropolitan area: the Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) PM study site south of the city center, and the Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh Air Quality Study (PAQS) site 5km east of central Pittsburgh established with funding by the EPA Supersites Program and by DOE-NETL. Data from these sampling sites were characterized by one to three-day episodes with PM2.5 concentrations (constructed from the sum of the chemical components) exceeding 40.0μgm-3. The episodes were dominated by high concentrations of ammonium sulfate. The fine particle concentrations were compared with meteorological data from surface weather maps and a Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT model), with back-trajectories estimated over 24h. High PM2.5 concentrations were associated with transition from a high pressure to a low pressure regime in advance of an approaching frontal system indicating long-range transport of pollutants. In contrast, fine particulate organic material appeared to be dominated by nearby sources. Distinct differences were observed in the diurnal variations in concentration between the two sites. The NETL site showed clear maximum concentrations of semi-volatile organic material (SVOM) during midday, and minimum concentrations of nonvolatile organic compounds in the afternoon. In contrast, the Carnegie Mellon PAQS site showed an absence of diurnal variation in SVOM, but still with minimum concentrations of nonvolatile organic compounds in the afternoon and evening. Neither site showed significant diurnal variation in ammonium sulfate.
AB - The concentration and chemical composition of ambient fine particulate material (PM2.5) is reported for two sampling sites in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metropolitan area: the Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) PM study site south of the city center, and the Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh Air Quality Study (PAQS) site 5km east of central Pittsburgh established with funding by the EPA Supersites Program and by DOE-NETL. Data from these sampling sites were characterized by one to three-day episodes with PM2.5 concentrations (constructed from the sum of the chemical components) exceeding 40.0μgm-3. The episodes were dominated by high concentrations of ammonium sulfate. The fine particle concentrations were compared with meteorological data from surface weather maps and a Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT model), with back-trajectories estimated over 24h. High PM2.5 concentrations were associated with transition from a high pressure to a low pressure regime in advance of an approaching frontal system indicating long-range transport of pollutants. In contrast, fine particulate organic material appeared to be dominated by nearby sources. Distinct differences were observed in the diurnal variations in concentration between the two sites. The NETL site showed clear maximum concentrations of semi-volatile organic material (SVOM) during midday, and minimum concentrations of nonvolatile organic compounds in the afternoon. In contrast, the Carnegie Mellon PAQS site showed an absence of diurnal variation in SVOM, but still with minimum concentrations of nonvolatile organic compounds in the afternoon and evening. Neither site showed significant diurnal variation in ammonium sulfate.
KW - Local emissions
KW - Long-range transport
KW - PM composition
KW - PM episode
KW - Pittsburgh
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U2 - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2004.03.005
DO - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2004.03.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:2442459849
VL - 38
SP - 3165
EP - 3178
JO - Atmospheric Environment
JF - Atmospheric Environment
SN - 1352-2310
IS - 20
ER -