AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Ten-year Trends (2008–2017) in Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Its Chemical Components in the Capital Region of New York State
SANCHITA PAUL, Md. Aynul Bari, University at Albany, SUNY
Abstract Number: 899 Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract With ongoing interest and concern about the state of fine particulate air pollution in U.S. urban centers, a study was undertaken to investigate temporal trends in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and its chemical components in Albany, NY over a 10-year period (2008–2017). A non-parametric trend detection method based on Mann-Kendall with Thiel-Sen’s slope was applied to estimate trends using annual geometric mean concentrations. A weak downward trend (significant at 90% confidence level) was found for ambient PM2.5 concentrations with an annual decrease of –0.23 µg/m3 (–3%) per year. Statistically significant decreasing trends were observed for secondary species such as particulate sulfate (–0.14 µg/m3, –8% per year), nitrate (–0.04 µg/m3, –6% per year) and ammonium (–0.07 µg/m3, –10% per year). Among carbonaceous aerosols, significant downward changes (–0.02 µg/m3, –4% per year) were observed for elemental carbon (EC), while no significant changes were detected for organic carbon (OC). These observed changes are primarily due to several emission reduction strategies for light- and heavy-duty vehicles and power generation that have been adopted across NYS since 2000 including particle regeneration traps and NOx control on heavy-duty diesel on-road trucks, reduction of sulfur in off-road diesel fuels, and use of ultralow sulfur in distillate fuels. A statistically significant increasing trend was observed for copper (0.23 ng/m3, 14% per year) suggesting the influence of non-exhaust road traffic emissions. Concentrations of K+, Zn, Cl– showed significant seasonal variability with higher concentrations in winter than in summer likely reflecting wood smoke origins more than other potential sources in Albany surrounding region. No statistically significant changes were found for all other chemical components examined. Longer-term PM2.5 speciation data at least over several decades are needed to establish whether trends reported here actually occurring.