The Kansas City Transportation and Local-Scale Air Quality Study (KC-TRAQS): Integration of Low-Cost Sensors and Reference Grade Monitoring in a Complex Metropolitan Area. Part 1: Overview of the Project

Abstract

Emissions from transportation sources can impact local air quality and contribute to adverse health effects. The Kansas City Transportation and Local-Scale Air Quality Study (KC-TRAQS), conducted over a 1-year period, researched emissions source characterization in the Argentine, Turner, and Armourdale, Kansas (KS) neighborhoods and the broader southeast Kansas City, KS area. This area is characterized as a near-source environment with impacts from large railyard operations, major roadways, and commercial and industrial facilities. The spatial and meteorological effects of particulate matter less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5), and black carbon (BC) pollutants on potential population exposures were evaluated at multiple sites using a combination of regulatory grade methods and instrumentation, low-cost sensors, citizen science, and mobile monitoring. The initial analysis of a subset of these data showed that mean reference grade PM2.5 concentrations (gravimetric) across all sites ranged from 7.92 to 9.34 µg/m3. Mean PM2.5 concentrations from low-cost sensors ranged from 3.30 to 5.94 µg/m3 (raw, uncorrected data). Pollution wind rose plots suggest that the sites are impacted by higher PM2.5 and BC concentrations when the winds originate near known source locations. Initial data analysis indicated that the observed PM2.5 and BC concentrations are driven by multiple air pollutant sources and meteorological effects. The KC-TRAQS overview and preliminary data analysis presented will provide a framework for forthcoming papers that will further characterize emission source attributions and estimate near-source exposures. This information will ultimately inform and clarify the extent and impact of air pollutants in the Kansas City area.

Combining Dispersion Modeling and Monitoring Data for Community-Scale Air Quality Characterization

“…In addition, the area has a combination of emission sources including residential, light industrial and commercial facilities, and transportation sources. These factors, including meteorology and emissions, were used to confirm the presumptive placement of stationary measurement sites for KC-TRAQS [13]. The measurements frequency is a critical element of the field study design.…”

“…The KC-TRAQS design included stationary site instruments to measure PM 2.5 and BC in combination with laboratory analyses and mobile measurement techniques [13]. The stationary sites included traditional sampling methods (e.g., Federal Reference Method/Federal Equivalent Method (FRM/FEM)) and sensor packages (e.g., lower-cost sensors).…”

“…Thus, it gives us more confidence that mobile monitoring data have better spatial coverage and can potentially identify hot spot areas not captured by the stationary monitoring network. The routes are designed to provide spatially resolved pollutant concentration measurements in and around the three communities, as well as six fixed measurement sites in the area as described by Kimbrough et al [13]. During the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 monitoring campaigns, the GMAP vehicle was driven continuously along one of five pre-determined routes as shown in Figure 3 (Turner community route, I-635 route, American Legion route, Argentine community route, Armourdale community route).…”

“…To address this need, the US EPA initiated research to develop an air quality modeling approach that combines dispersion modeling and measurements (including stationary, mobile measurements, and portable sensor technologies) to create accurate, fine-scale air quality characterization. The Kansas City TRansportation local-scale Air Quality Study (KC-TRAQS) was conducted over a one-year period to characterize air quality in residential communities located near major rail yards and assess the relative contributions of the rail yard and other emissions sources to particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and black carbon (BC) [13]. This large dataset with differing time and spatial resolutions requires innovative data analysis approaches to interpret and provide researchers and stakeholders with results that inform the extent and impact of air pollutants in the study area.…”

The Family Decision Making Patterns of Children with Special Needs: a Sociology Study of the Family

“…Duvall and Logan said that the family is a group of people with ties of marriage, birth, and adoption that aim to create, maintain a culture, and enhance the physical, mental, emotional, and social development of each family member (Kimbrough et al, 2019). Bailon and Maglaya said that the family is two or more individuals who live in one household because of blood relations, marriage, or adoption (Bailon, 2008).…”