Temporal evolution of submicron particles during extreme fireworks

Yadav, Sunil Kumar; Kumar, Manish; Sharma, Yashasvi; Shukla, P. K.; Singh, Ram Sharan; Banerjee, Tirthankar

doi:10.1007/s10661-019-7735-2

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…To better characterize the firework-related PM 2.5 variability, hourly average PM 2.5 concentration data from the “during” and “after” firework periods were normalized relative to measurements from the “before” firework period. This approach borrows from Yadav et al (2019) [ 16 ]. Based on the normalized temporal variation, we classified the counties into three categories that consisted of low, moderate, and high impact, indicating the hourly PM 2.5 concentrations during and after the firework displays that peaked at between 1.5 and 3 times, between 3 and 5 times, and more than 5 times the level of the “before” period, respectively.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the limited spatial resolution of measurements, the filter-based PM 2.5 speciation measured by the U.S. EPA is often conducted every third or sixth day and therefore often misses, or only partially covers, key air pollution events (e.g., reporting data on July 3rd and 5th, but not July 4th), in turn failing to fully reflect the exposure at a high spatial and temporal resolution. Overall, previous studies that have shown firework episodes to increase regional PM 2.5 concentrations are constrained to large spatial and temporal scales [ 10 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of 4th of July Fireworks on Spatiotemporal PM2.5 Concentrations in California Based on the PurpleAir Sensor Network: Implications for Policy and Environmental Justice

Mousavi

Yuan

Masri

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Fireworks are often used in celebration, causing short term, extremely high particulate matter air pollution. In recent years, the rapid development and expansion of low-cost air quality sensors by companies such as PurpleAir has enabled an understanding of air pollution at a much higher spatiotemporal resolution compared to traditional monitoring networks. In this study, real-time PM2.5 measurements from 751 PurpleAir sensors operating from June to July in 2019 and 2020 were used to examine the impact of 4th of July fireworks on hourly and daily PM2.5 concentrations at the census tract and county levels in California. American Community Survey (ACS) and CalEnviroScreen 3.0 data were used to identify correlations between PM2.5 measurements and socioeconomic status (SES). A two-step method was implemented to assure the quality of raw PM2.5 sensor data and sensor calibration against co-located reference instruments. The results showed that over 67% and 81% of counties experienced immediate impacts related to fireworks in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Relative to 2019, the peak PM2.5 concentrations on July 4th and 5th 2020 were, on average, over 50% higher in California, likely due to the COVID-19-related increase in the use of household-level fireworks. This increase was most pronounced in southern counties, which tend to have less strict firework-related regulations and a greater use of illegal fireworks. Los Angeles County experienced the highest July 4th daily PM2.5 levels both in 2019 (29.9 µg·m−3) and 2020 (42.6 µg·m−3). Spatial hot spot analyses generally showed these southern counties (e.g., Los Angeles County) to be regional air pollution hotspots, whereas the opposite pattern was seen in the north (e.g., San Francisco). The results also showed PM2.5 peaks that were over two-times higher among communities with lower SES, higher minority group populations, and higher asthma rates. Our findings highlight the important role that policy and enforcement can play in reducing firework-related air pollution and protecting public health, as exemplified by southern California, where policy was more relaxed and air pollution was higher (especially in 2020 when the 4th of July coincided with the COVID-19-lockdown period), and in disadvantaged communities where disparities were greatest.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of 4th of July Fireworks on Spatiotemporal PM2.5 Concentrations in California Based on the PurpleAir Sensor Network: Implications for Policy and Environmental Justice

Mousavi

Yuan

Masri

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Nitrate, Cl − , and Mg 2+ are emitted during fireworks (Zhang et al, 2017) as finer-sized submicrometer particles (Tsai et al, 2011) compared to background conditions when these species are mostly associated with coarser supermicrometer particles (AzadiAghdam et al, 2019;Cruz et al, 2019;Hilario et al, 2020). Nitrate can also be formed secondarily (Yang et al, 2014) from firework emissions. Firework emissions are associated with lower NO − 3 : SO 2− 4 ratios (Feng et al, 2012) compared to days dominated by mobile sources (Arimoto et al, 1996) due to different formation mechanisms (Tian et al, 2014).…”

Section: Mass Size Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement report: Fireworks impacts on air quality in Metro Manila, Philippines during the 2019 New Year revelry

Lorenzo¹,

Bañaga²,

Cambaliza³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Fireworks degrade air quality, reduce visibility, alter atmospheric chemistry, and cause short-term adverse health effects. However, there have not been any comprehensive physicochemical and optical measurements of fireworks and their associated impacts in a Southeast Asia megacity, where fireworks are a regular part of the culture. Size-resolved particulate matter (PM) measurements were made before, during, and after New Year 2019 at the Manila Observatory in Quezon City, Philippines, as part of the Cloud, Aerosol, and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex). A High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) recorded a substantial increase in backscattered signal associated with high aerosol loading ~440 m above the surface during the peak of firework activities around 00:00 (local time). This was accompanied by PM2.5 concentrations peaking at 383.9 μg m−3. During the firework event, water-soluble ions and elements, which affect particle formation, growth, and fate, were mostly in the submicrometer diameter range. Total (> 0.056 µm) water-soluble bulk particle mass concentrations were enriched by 5.7 times during the fireworks relative to the background (i.e., average of before and after the firework). The water-soluble mass fraction of PM2.5 increased by 18.5 % above that of background values. Bulk particle hygroscopicity, kappa (κ), increased from 0.11 (background) to 0.18 (fireworks). Potassium and non-sea salt (nss) SO42− contributed the most (70.9 %) to the water-soluble mass, with their mass size distributions shifting from a smaller to a larger submicrometer mode during the firework event. On the other hand, mass size distributions for NO3−, Cl−, and Mg2+ (21.1 % mass contribution) shifted from a supermicrometer mode to a submicrometer mode. Being both uninfluenced by secondary aerosol formation and constituents of firework materials, a subset of species were identified as the best firework tracer species (Cu, Ba, Sr, K+, Al, and Pb). Although these species (excluding K+) only contributed 2.1 % of the total mass concentration of water-soluble ions and elements, they exhibited the highest enrichments (6.1 to 65.2) during the fireworks. Surface microscopy analysis confirmed the presence of potassium/chloride-rich cubic particles along with capsule-shaped particles in firework samples. The results of this study highlight how firework emissions change the physicochemical and optical properties of water-soluble particles (e.g., mass size distribution, composition, hygroscopicity, and aerosol backscatter), which subsequently alters the background aerosol's respirability, influence on surroundings, ability to uptake gases, and viability as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN).

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“…Owing to combustion during firework events, PM concentrations are dominated by particles in the submicrometer range (Vecchi et al, 2008;Nicolás et al, 2009;Joshi et al, 2019;Pirker et al, 2020;Do et al, 2012). Particle number concentration maxima have been noted for the nucleation (0.01 to 0.02 µm) and Aitken (0.02 to 0.05 µm) modes (Yadav et al, 2019;Yuan et al, 2020), in addition to both the small (0.1 to 0.5 µm) (Wehner et al, 2000;Zhang et al, 2010) and large (0.5 to 1.0 µm) ends of the accumulation mode (Vecchi et al, 2008) during firework events. In Nanning, China, SO 2− 4 peaked at 0.62 µm during fireworks (Li et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fireworkderived chloride in Taiwan has been attributed to raw materials such as KClO 3 , ClO 3 , and ClO 4 with Cl − : Na + ratios reaching approximately 3 (Tsai et al, 2012). Black carbon mass concentrations during firework events can either increase due to firework emissions or decrease owing to fewer vehicles on the road (Kumar et al, 2016;Yadav et al, 2019). In both cases, the black carbon mass fraction decreases due to a greater contribution of other constituents in firework emissions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement report: Firework impacts on air quality in Metro Manila, Philippines, during the 2019 New Year revelry

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Fireworks degrade air quality, reduce visibility, alter atmospheric chemistry, and cause short-term adverse health effects. However, there have not been any comprehensive physicochemical and optical measurements of fireworks and their associated impacts in a Southeast Asia megacity, where fireworks are a regular part of the culture. Size-resolved particulate matter (PM) measurements were made before, during, and after New Year 2019 at the Manila Observatory in Quezon City, Philippines, as part of the Cloud, Aerosol, and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex). A high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) recorded a substantial increase in backscattered signal associated with high aerosol loading ∼440 m above the surface during the peak of firework activities around 00:00 (local time). This was accompanied by PM2.5 concentrations peaking at 383.9 µg m−3. During the firework event, water-soluble ions and elements, which affect particle formation, growth, and fate, were mostly in the submicrometer diameter range. Total (>0.056 µm) water-soluble bulk particle mass concentrations were enriched by 5.7 times during the fireworks relative to the background (i.e., average of before and after the firework). The water-soluble mass fraction of PM2.5 increased by 18.5 % above that of background values. This corresponded to increased volume fractions of inorganics which increased bulk particle hygroscopicity, kappa (κ), from 0.11 (background) to 0.18 (fireworks). Potassium and non-sea-salt (nss) SO42- contributed the most (70.9 %) to the water-soluble mass, with their mass size distributions shifting from a smaller to a larger submicrometer mode during the firework event. On the other hand, mass size distributions for NO3-, Cl−, and Mg2+ (21.1 % mass contribution) shifted from a supermicrometer mode to a submicrometer mode. Being both uninfluenced by secondary aerosol formation and constituents of firework materials, a subset of species were identified as the best firework tracer species (Cu, Ba, Sr, K+, Al, and Pb). Although these species (excluding K+) only contributed 2.1 % of the total mass concentration of water-soluble ions and elements, they exhibited the highest enrichments (6.1 to 65.2) during the fireworks. Surface microscopy analysis confirmed the presence of potassium/chloride-rich cubic particles along with capsule-shaped particles in firework samples. The results of this study highlight how firework emissions change the physicochemical and optical properties of water-soluble particles (e.g., mass size distribution, composition, hygroscopicity, and aerosol backscatter), which subsequently alters the background aerosol's respirability, influence on surroundings, ability to uptake gases, and viability as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN).

show abstract

Temporal evolution of submicron particles during extreme fireworks

Cited by 14 publications

References 39 publications

Impact of 4th of July Fireworks on Spatiotemporal PM2.5 Concentrations in California Based on the PurpleAir Sensor Network: Implications for Policy and Environmental Justice

Impact of 4th of July Fireworks on Spatiotemporal PM2.5 Concentrations in California Based on the PurpleAir Sensor Network: Implications for Policy and Environmental Justice

Measurement report: Fireworks impacts on air quality in Metro Manila, Philippines during the 2019 New Year revelry

Measurement report: Firework impacts on air quality in Metro Manila, Philippines, during the 2019 New Year revelry

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