AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Long-term Trends in Criteria Pollutant Concentrations within the South Coast Air Basin of California
SCOTT A. EPSTEIN, Kalam Cheung, Sang-Mi Lee, South Coast Air Quality Management District
Abstract Number: 573 Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract The South Coast Air Basin (SCAB) is an area of 10,743 square miles that encompasses Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. Topographical barriers to pollutant transport outside of the Basin along with intense photochemistry, emissions from a strong industrial presence, and a passenger and goods movement transportation infrastructure reliant on fuel combustion lead to significant pollution problems. Major portions of the SCAB are in federal non-attainment of 8-hr ozone and PM$_(2.5) standards. However, conditions within the SCAB have improved significantly since the advent of modern air pollution control measures. The South Coast Air Quality Management District maintains a network of 38 permanent monitoring stations within the SCAB to continuously measure criteria pollutant concentrations. This extensive network allows for a detailed spatial and temporal analysis of pollutant concentrations. We will explore seasonal and weekly variations in pollutant concentrations as a function of location along with regional trends over the past four decades. Meteorological variations and the location of emission sources can be used to explain a large fraction of the spatial and temporal variation in concentrations throughout the Basin.