High Resolution Spatial and Temporal Mapping of Traffic-Related Air Pollutants

Stuart Batterman, Rajiv Ganguly and Paul Harbin
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Stuart Batterman: Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Rajiv Ganguly: Department of Civil Engineering, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173234, India
Paul Harbin: Institute for Population Health, 1400 E. Woodbridge, Detroit, MI 48207, USA

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-21

Abstract: Vehicle traffic is one of the most significant emission sources of air pollutants in urban areas. While the influence of mobile source emissions is felt throughout an urban area, concentrations from mobile emissions can be highest near major roadways. At present, information regarding the spatial and temporal patterns and the share of pollution attributable to traffic-related air pollutants is limited, in part due to concentrations that fall sharply with distance from roadways, as well as the few monitoring sites available in cities. This study uses a newly developed dispersion model (RLINE) and a spatially and temporally resolved emissions inventory to predict hourly PM 2.5 and NO x concentrations across Detroit (MI, USA) at very high spatial resolution. Results for annual averages and high pollution days show contrasting patterns, the need for spatially resolved analyses, and the limitations of surrogate metrics like proximity or distance to roads. Data requirements, computational and modeling issues are discussed. High resolution pollutant data enable the identification of pollutant “hotspots”, “project-level” analyses of transportation options, development of exposure measures for epidemiology studies, delineation of vulnerable and susceptible populations, policy analyses examining risks and benefits of mitigation options, and the development of sustainability indicators integrating environmental, social, economic and health information.

Keywords: air pollution; dispersion models; human exposure; PM 2.5; traffic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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