A comparative analysis of temporary and permanent beta attenuation monitors: The importance of understanding data and equipment limitations when creating PM 2.5 air quality health advisories

Schweizer, Don; Cisneros, Ricardo; Shaw, Glenn D.

doi:10.1016/j.apr.2016.02.003

Cited by 31 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The performance of FEMs and near-FEM grade instruments during these high pollution times have not been validated in the field. For example, Schweizer et al [ 44 ] found that the EBAMs commonly used for temporary smoke monitoring networks overreported PM 2.5 compared to BAMs, but only when RH was above 40%. These potential variations in the reference measurement accuracy and precision during smoke impacted times may have led to weaker correlations and introduced variation in the slope of the linear regressions across sites.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field Evaluation of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors for Measuring Wildfire Smoke

Holder

Mebust

Maghran

et al. 2020

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Until recently, air quality impacts from wildfires were predominantly determined based on data from permanent stationary regulatory air pollution monitors. However, low-cost particulate matter (PM) sensors are now widely used by the public as a source of air quality information during wildfires, although their performance during smoke impacted conditions has not been thoroughly evaluated. We collocated three types of low-cost fine PM (PM2.5) sensors with reference instruments near multiple fires in the western and eastern United States (maximum hourly PM2.5 = 295 µg/m3). Sensors were moderately to strongly correlated with reference instruments (hourly averaged r2 = 0.52–0.95), but overpredicted PM2.5 concentrations (normalized root mean square errors, NRMSE = 80–167%). We developed a correction equation for wildfire smoke that reduced the NRMSE to less than 27%. Correction equations were specific to each sensor package, demonstrating the impact of the physical configuration and the algorithm used to translate the size and count information into PM2.5 concentrations. These results suggest the low-cost sensors can fill in the large spatial gaps in monitoring networks near wildfires with mean absolute errors of less than 10 µg/m3 in the hourly PM2.5 concentrations when using a sensor-specific smoke correction equation.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field Evaluation of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors for Measuring Wildfire Smoke

Holder

Mebust

Maghran

et al. 2020

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The ambient PM 2.5 concentrations measured at the AMS community sites during fire impact periods are on the same order as PM 2.5 concentrations that have been reported for wildland firefighter occupational exposures ( Naeher et al, 2006 ; Miranda et al, 2010 ; Adetona et al, 2011 ), and in some cases higher by > 2 orders of magnitude above downwind community monitoring sites where observable public health effects were documented ( Lee et al, 2014 ; Liu et al, 2015 ; Reid et al, 2016 ; Adetona et al, 2016 ; Kim et al, 2017 ). Ambient PM 2.5 measurements made as part of past routine community monitoring programs and emergency response operations in many cases have not reported concentrations above 800–1000 μg m −3 due to inherent limitations of the continuous monitoring instruments ( Bytnerowicz et al, 2016 ; Schweizer et al, 2016 ) and filter loading related flow restrictions on integrated samplers ( Landis et al, 2017 ). Unfortunately, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) measurements were not part of the WBEA AMS routine monitoring plan in 2016, so modified combustion efficiencies ( Urbanski, 2013 ) could not be calculated; and the measured ambient concentrations could not be categorized in terms of fire combustion regime (e.g., flaming, smoldering).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of the 2016 Fort McMurray Horse River Wildfire on ambient air pollution levels in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada

Landis

Edgerton

White

et al. 2018

Science of The Total Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An unprecedented wildfire impacted the northern Alberta city of Fort McMurray in May 2016 causing a mandatory city wide evacuation and the loss of 2,400 homes and commercial structures. A two-hectare wildfire was discovered on May 1, grew to ~157,000 ha by May 5, and continued to burn an estimated ~590,000 ha by June 13. A comprehensive air monitoring network operated by the Wood Buffalo Environmental Association (WBEA) in and around Fort McMurray provided essential health-related real-time air quality data to firefighters during the emergency, and provided a rare opportunity to elucidate the impact of gaseous and particulate matter emissions on near-field communities and regional air pollution concentrations. The WBEA network recorded 188 fire-related exceedances of 1-hr and 24-hr Alberta Ambient Air Quality Objectives. Two air monitoring sites within Fort McMurray recorded mean/maximum 1-hr PM2.5 concentrations of 291/5229 μg m−3 (AMS-6) and 293/3259 μg m−3 (AMS-7) during fire impact periods. High correlations (r2 = 0.83–0.97) between biomass combustion related gases (carbon monoxide (CO), non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), total hydrocarbons (THC), total reduced sulfur (TRS), ammonia) and PM2.5 were observed at the sites. Filter-based 24-hr integrated PM2.5 samples collected every 6 days showed maximum concentrations of 267 μg m−3 (AMS-6) and 394 μg m−3 (AMS-7). Normalized excess emission ratios relative to CO were 149.87 ± 3.37 μg m−3 ppm−1 (PM2.5), 0.274 ± 0.002 ppm ppm−1 (THC), 0.169 ± 0.001 ppm ppm−1 (NMHC), 0.104 ± 0.001 ppm ppm−1 (CH4), 0.694 ± 0.007 ppb ppm−1 (TRS), 0.519 ± 0.040 ppb ppm−1 (SO2), 0.412 ± 0.045 ppb ppm−1 (NO), 1.968 ± 0.053 ppb ppm−1 (NO2), and 2.337 ± 0.077 ppb ppm−1 (NOX). A subset of PM2.5 filter samples was analyzed for trace elements, major ions, organic carbon, elemental carbon, and carbohydrates. Sample mass reconstruction and fire specific emission profiles are presented and discussed. Potential fire-related photometric ozone instrument positive interferences were observed and were positively correlated with NO and NMHC.

show abstract

“…eBAMs (Model 9800, MetOne, Grants Pass, OR), which work by beta attenuation method for the measurement of PM 2.5 mass concentration ( Cheng et al., 2008 ; Cisneros et al., 2014 ; Schweizer et al., 2016 ) eBAMs were deployed in North and South sites. eBAMs are relatively mobile instruments and intended for temporary deployment, although have shown good correlation (R 2 = 0.9 for daily mean) with non-mobile federal equivalent method BAM instruments ( Schweizer et al., 2016 ). We employed manufacturer-supplied inlet air heating to avoid humidity-related errors ( MetOne, 2011 ) and manufacturer-supplied PM 2.5 cyclones, with 15 min sampling frequency and 16.7 Lpm flow rate (corresponding to 2.5 μm cut point).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of spatiotemporal characteristics of ambient PM2.5 in rural South India to infer local versus regional contributions

Kumar

Sreekanth

Salmon

et al. 2018

Environmental Pollution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study uses spatiotemporal patterns in ambient concentrations to infer the contribution of regional versus local sources. We collected 12 months of monitoring data for outdoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in rural southern India. Rural India includes more than one-tenth of the global population and annually accounts for around half a million air pollution deaths, yet little is known about the relative contribution of local sources to outdoor air pollution. We measured 1-min averaged outdoor PM2.5 concentrations during June 2015–May 2016 in three villages, which varied in population size, socioeconomic status, and type and usage of domestic fuel. The daily geometric-mean PM2.5 concentration was ∼30 μg m−3 (geometric standard deviation: ∼1.5). Concentrations exceeded the Indian National Ambient Air Quality standards (60 μg m−3) during 2–5% of observation days. Average concentrations were ∼25 μg m−3 higher during winter than during monsoon and ∼8 μg m−3 higher during morning hours than the diurnal average. A moving average subtraction method based on 1-min average PM2.5 concentrations indicated that local contributions (e.g., nearby biomass combustion, brick kilns) were greater in the most populated village, and that overall the majority of ambient PM2.5 in our study was regional, implying that local air pollution control strategies alone may have limited influence on local ambient concentrations. We compared the relatively new moving average subtraction method against a more established approach. Both methods broadly agree on the relative contribution of local sources across the three sites. The moving average subtraction method has broad applicability across locations.

show abstract

A comparative analysis of temporary and permanent beta attenuation monitors: The importance of understanding data and equipment limitations when creating PM 2.5 air quality health advisories

Cited by 31 publications

References 29 publications

Field Evaluation of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors for Measuring Wildfire Smoke

Field Evaluation of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors for Measuring Wildfire Smoke

The impact of the 2016 Fort McMurray Horse River Wildfire on ambient air pollution levels in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada

Use of spatiotemporal characteristics of ambient PM2.5 in rural South India to infer local versus regional contributions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About