Abstract View
An Evaluation of Air Quality Impacts from Different Urban Greening Strategies in Los Angeles County
SHAN GU, Celia Faiola, University of California, Irvine
Abstract Number: 39
Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract
Volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the atmosphere have significant impacts on the formation of secondary pollutants, such as ozone and secondary organic aerosol (SOA). In urban areas, anthropogenic VOC (AVOC) emissions are leading contributors to ozone and SOA formation, but the essential role of biogenic VOC (BVOC) emissions could become more important as AVOC emissions decrease and urban greening programs are more widely implemented. Recent studies have demonstrated that BVOC emissions in urban areas may be increasing because of the large increase in urban forest coverage. However, few studies have been carried out to assess the impact on air pollutants in urban areas. Therefore, this study investigated relative contribution of speciated VOC emissions from both anthropogenic and biogenic sources on ozone formation potential (OFP) and secondary organic aerosol formation potential (SOAP) in Los Angeles county. Speciated AVOC emissions were estimated using the 2014 National Emission Inventory (NEI), SPECIATE database, and the SMOKE processing system from US EPA. The local vegetation data from the county’s records was utilized to estimate BVOC speciation and emissions. The analysis was repeated for a base case (based on the inventories) and a range of potential future scenarios to investigate the effect of planting isoprene emitters vs monoterpene emitters. The relative contribution of each emission sector to total VOC emissions and the corresponding OFP and SOAP for each scenario will be presented. These results can be used to help inform best practices for future urban greening programs.