CAPITA PM and Ozone Analysis

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CAPITA PM and Ozone Analysis

• A. PM2.5 National Maps
• B. Visibility (PM2.5) trends
• C. Natural (out of EPA jurisdiction) Events
• D. US-Canada Ozone Transport
• E. Planned National Analyses

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A National PM2.5 Concentration Maps

• PM2.5 concentration maps are useful for
  understanding the pollutants spatial pattern and
  identifying potential non-attainment areas of the
  PM2.5 NAAQS (annual average of 15 µg/m3 )
• Monitoring data provide information at specific
  points and are used as input in generating the
  maps
• The limited number of PM2.5 monitoring data are
  inadequate to generate meaningful maps. National
  PM2.5 maps are generated using an enhanced
  inverse distance squared method that
  incorporates
• visibility and PM10 surrogate data to aid
  interpolation between PM2.5 monitors
• mountain and mixing height barriers to prevent
  the spreading of non-representative
  concentrations
• declustering to minimize biases from monitoring
  site clusters
• For further information see http//capita.wustl.e
  du/Databases/UserDomains/SAPID/

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A1 Annual Average PM2.5 Concentrations (1994-96)
Visibility Aided PM2.5
PM10 Aided PM2.5

• In both maps, PM2.5 concentrations exceed 15
  µg/m3 in the San Joaquin Valley and South Coast
  Basin of California, in the west, and Pittsburgh,
  St. Louis, Roanoke, and the Washington DC - New
  York City Metropolis.
• The visibility aided estimates indicate a larger
  region above 15 µg/m3 along the eastern seaboard.
  Additional areas above 15 µg/m3 are shown with
  PM10 aided estimates including Atlanta and
  eastern TN.

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A2 Pm2.5 National Maps - Application

• EPA Trends Report
• PM2.5 Criteria Document 2000
• NAS Report

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B Visibility Trends

• This is an update of the US visibility trends
  for the period 1980-95. Earlier visibility trend
  reports covered the 1960 - 1992 period.
• Data from 1996 and 1997 were excluded since
  these data were collected using the automated
  ASOS visibility measuring system.
• The trend analysis is focused on using the
  summer season (June, July, August), because this
  is the period during which the visibility
  degradation is the worst over most of the US
• For further information see U.S. Visibility
  Trends, 1960-1992

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B1 Visibility Trends 1980 - 95
Click on the images to view larger versions

• In the Eastern US, throughout the 1980-95
  period, the 75th percentile BEXT exceeded 0.15 or
  had an average visibility of less than 10 miles.
• Most notable are the hazy regions on both sides
  of the Appalachian Mountains where the BEXT
  exceeds 0.2 1/km.
• Since the early 1980s the BEXT decreased 8-15
  with the largest decreases in the Southern and
  Central regions.

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B2 75th and 90th Percentile Light Extinction
Trends
Over the Eastern US, the 75th percentile Bext
decreased 8 percent over the 15 years. The
largest decreases occurred in the Southeast where
the Bext decreased 12 compared to 8 in the
Northeast.
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B3 Visibility Trends - Applications

• Report on the Nation's Ecosystems by the Heinz
  Center. A White House initiative to create a
  Report card on the health of our Nations
  ecosystems.
• EPA National Trends Report
• PM2.5 Criteria Document 2000

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C Natural Events (Out of EPA Jurisdiction)

• Dust storms and forest fires are major PM events
  that occur several times a year over different
  parts of the US.
• Many of these events originate outside the US,
  e.g. dust from Sahara and the Asian desserts and
  smoke from forest fires in Central America and
  Canada.
• Exceedances of the NAAQS caused by dust and
  smoke events are uncontrollable acts of God.
  Nevertheless, states are required to provide
  evidence that such events (outside their
  jurisdiction) have occurred.
• For this reason, control agencies need to be
  able to detect and document the impact of such
  events on their control region. The existing
  tools for such documentation are poorly
  developed.
• The natural PM events are illustrated by two
  extreme examples Asian dust impacting on the
  West Coast and the Central American forest fire
  smoke impacting the Eastern US.

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C1 Smoke From C. American Forest Fires
GOES 8 View of the Smoke
SeaWiFS View of the Smoke

• During a ten-day period, May 7-17, 1998, smoke
  from fires in Central America drifted northward
  into USA and Canada.
• The smoke caused exceedances of the PM standard,
  health alerts, and impairment of air traffic, as
  well as major reductions of visual range.
• It has been argued that some ozone exceedances in
  the Eastern US may have been due to ozone
  generated by the forest fire smoke.

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C2 Asian Dust Over the West Coast

• In Vancouver and in Washington State the PM10 and
  PM2.5 concentrations reached 100 an 40 µg
  respectively.
• Based on public complaints and monitoring data,
  the State of Washington issued a ban on open
  burning on April 29.

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C3 Natural Events - Applications

• Used by OAQPS in the assessment of the requests
  by States for ozone exceedance waivers for smoke
  generated ozone.
• State agencies (Washington and Idaho) issued AQ
  advisories based on the above Chines Dust report
• PM2.5 Criteria Document 2000

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D Us-Canada Ozone Transport

• Following a request by J. Bachmann, OAQPS, this
  preliminary analysis for the US-Canada Air
  Quality Agreement was conducted.
• The purpose is to illustrate ozone transport
  across the national boundaries.
• The analysis methodology included
• O3 concentration stratified by wind direction
• O3 concentration stratified by wind speed
• Transport wind vectors under high and low ozone
  conditions
• For further information see Ozone Transport Over
  Eastern North America

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D1 At high wind speeds, gt 6 m/s, higher
concentrations appear at the downwind edges of
the Eastern North American domain.
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D2 On high O3 days, the transport winds are slow
with clockwise circulation around the
south-center of the Eastern US.On low O3 days,
swift transport winds are from outside the
industrial Eastern North America.
Transport winds during high (90-ile) local ozone
days.
Transport winds during low (10-ile) local ozone
days.
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D3 Us-Canada Ozone Transport - Applications

• Canada/US Air Quality Agreement

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E Planned National PM Analyses

• PM Spatial and Temporal Pattern Analysis
• Seasonal
• Weekly
• PM Transport Climatology - relate transport to
  ambient concentrations and vice versa.
• Surface Winds
• Forward Airmass Histories
• Backward Airmass Histories

CAPITA PM and Ozone Data Analyses