Air pollution exposure monitoring and estimating

Abstract

This paper presents an integrated exposure monitoring system, based on an expansion of existing air quality monitoring systems using dispersion modelling. The system allows: (1) identifying geographical areas whose inhabitants are most exposed to ambient pollution; (2) identifying how many people in an area are exposed to concentrations of pollution exceeding air quality guidelines; (3) describing the exposure of population subgroups (e.g. children); (4) planning pollution abatement measures and quantifying their effects; (5) establishing risk assessment and management programs, and (6) investigating the short- and long-term effects of both pollutants and pollution sources on public health. The effect of pollution is rarely very large and in order to discover it, exposure estimation must provide data that reflects both spatial and temporal variations. Estimates of pollution exposure are obtained using an integrated approach that combines results of measurements from monitoring programs with dispersion calculations. These values can serve as estimates for individual short-term or long-term exposure. The grouped data allows the expression of ambient pollution concentrations as the spatial distribution of estimates such as the mean or 98th percentile of such compounds as SO2, O3, NO2, PM10 and PM2.5. This integrated approach has been combined into a single software package, AirQUIS.

Air pollution exposure assessment methods utilized in epidemiological studies

“…To date, an extensive group of epidemiological studies have incorporated air dispersion models, linking air pollution with adverse health effects. These studies are mainly comprised of point/area source dispersion models 30,81 and linear source dispersion models, 79,80 ranging from 24 h average concentration estimates in intraurban areas 82 to annual average concentration estimates in the entire state. 83 Air dispersion models have been established as the primary method for assessing human exposure in urban areas, 30,54 and show an even more promising future in calibrating and improving the accuracy of human intake models.…”

An integrated air quality forecast system for a metropolitan area

“…In a continuation of the work done by Denby, 18 the interpolation techniques (inverse distance weighting, radial basis functions and kriging) have been applied 19 for the assessment of gridded air quality maps for Europe having resolution of 10 km  10 km, based on a combination of air quality monitoring data, modelling simulations and other supplementary information. 20,21 These interpolation methods are relatively fast and easy to compute. Moreover, cokriging allows the use of domain knowledge to improve the spatial interpolation.…”

Air pollution exposure monitoring and estimation

“…To study the role of exposure to air pollution on the incidence exposed to over a period of time (hour, day, etc.). 1 and prevalence of asthma and other airway diseases in children, Children are among the most sensitive sub-population both a study involving a series of investigations was initiated in Oslo. because of physiological factors that influence uptake and Ambient pollution exposure to particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) because of their lifestyle which results in them being highly and nitrogen dioxide was estimated using dispersion models active outdoors and thus more exposed to pollutants than coupled to measurements, for each child's home address, for are adults.…”