Processes controlling urban air pollution in the northeast: summer 2002
Document ID: 288
Philbrick, C. Russell1
Ryan, William F.2
Clark, Richard D.3
Hopke, Philip K.4
McDow, Stephen R.5
Technical Report
1 The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Electrical Engineering, University Park, PA, U.S.A.
2 The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Meteorology, University Park, PA, U.S.A.
3 Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Department of Earth Sciences, Millersville, PA, U.S.A.
4 Clarkson University, Department of Chemistry, Potsdam, NY, U.S.A.
5 Drexel University, Department of Chemistry, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
Summary
This research continues the activities of the NEOPS university consortium to investigate air quality issues in the northeast as a follow on to the USEPA sponsored project entitled Investigations of Factors Determining the Occurrence of Ozone and Fine Particles in Northeastern USA. This project has been designated as NEOPS-DEP2002 to associate with but distinguish it from the measurement program referred to as the NARSTO-NE-OPS project, which was carried out during 1998, 1999 and 2001 under EPA STAR Grant R826373. Both of these research projects have been associated with the NARSTO (North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone) Program for data archiving purposes.
The NEOPS-DEP2002 project included a six-week summer field measurement intensive program and was carried out during the period from the last week of June through the first week of August 2002. The measurements overlapped the activity of the three PM (Particulate Matter) Supersites in the northeast region, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and New York. Our plan was to optimize the value of all of the northeast measurements during the 2002 summer by fully overlapping the period of other measurement programs in the region. The NEOPS-DEP2002 measurements included key meteorological properties, gas chemistry, and particulate physical/chemical properties. The major instruments included remote sensing radar and lidar for vertical profiling of the meteorological and air quality properties, insitu measurements of meteorological profiles, aerosols and ozone from surface to 300 m using an instrumented tethered balloon, and a suite of surface based instruments for measuring the concentrations of key chemical species and particulate physical/chemical properties. Also, minor/toxic species were measured using filter samples which were analyzed with high resolution GC/MS laboratory techniques. Measurements were also obtained by the University of Maryland instrumented aircraft during flybys on two days during July. The instruments used and measurements obtained are described in more detail in the following sections. The primary results provide an important data base to test developing models and extend our understanding of physical/chemical processes which control air pollution episodes. The results are being shared with other researchers through technical workshops and web based data links. The results are in the final stage of preparation and testing to make them available to the scientific community through the national NARSTO data archive. We have placed a special emphasis on coordination with the northeast Supersites in an effort to help create a regional picture of air pollution episodes. The analysis and coordination activity will continue beyond the defined dates of this project activity.
There are three primary factors which make this activity particularly valuable. First, the NEOPS project site and team strengths have been extended to investigate air quality and develop a meteorological context for regional collaboration with the Northeast Supersites in Baltimore, New York and Pittsburgh. Second, the NE-OPS emphasis on the measurements of particulate matter and vertical profiling of airborne PM provides the key data for understanding the regional haze questions and will support the MANE-VU (Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Visibility Union) investigations of northeast regional haze. Third, the major intensives of the prior NE-OPS projects have been conducted during summers which represented the 90th percentile warm and 10th percentile dry (1999), and the 80th percentile cool and 20th percentile dry (2001) conditions for the region, therefore these investigations should extended the range of meteorological conditions. The effort here also permits an opportunity for setting new results into context with the prior NE-OPS investigations.