Long-term trends in submicron particle concentrations in a metropolitan area of the northeastern United States

Significant changes in emission sources have occurred in the northeastern United States over the past decade, due in part to the implementation of emissions standards, the introduction and addition of abatement technologies for road transport, changes in fuel sulfur content for road and non-road transport, as well as economic impacts of a major recession and differential fuel prices. These changes in emission scenarios likely affected the concentrations of airborne submicron particles. This study investigated the characteristics of 11–500 nm particle number concentrations and their size spectra in Rochester, NY during the past 15 years (2002 to 2016). The modal structure, diurnal, weekly and monthly patterns of particle number concentrations are analyzed. Long-term trends are quantified using seasonal-trend decomposition procedures based on “Loess”, Mann-Kendall regression with Theil-Sen slope and piecewise regression. Particle concentrations underwent significant (p < 0.05) downward trends. An annual decrease of −323 particles/cm3/y (−4.6%/y) was estimated for the total particle number concentration using Theil-Sen analysis. The trends were driven mainly by the decrease in particles in the 11–50 nm range (−181 particles/cm3/y; −4.7%/y). Slope changes were investigated annually and seasonally. Piecewise regression found different slopes for different portions of the overall period with the strongest declines between 2005 and 2011/2013, followed by small upward trends between 2013 and 2016 for most size bins, possibly representing increased vehicular traffic after the recovery from the 2008 recession

Toronto Residents' Exposure to Ultrafine Particles

In urban areas, ultrafine particles (UFP: defined as particulate matter with diameters less than 100nm) are emitted in significant quantities from vehicles and form through a complex series of secondary reactions in the atmosphere. Large uncertainties surrounding the long-term behaviour and spatial distribution of UFP in urban areas have been a significant obstacle for exposure assessment. This research examined one of the longest existing urban UFP data sets, collected at a roadside location in downtown Toronto. Between 2006 and 2011, the concentration of particles with diametersPh.D

Development of a land-use regression model for ultrafine particles in Toronto, Canada

This study applies land-use regression (LUR) to characterize the spatial distribution of ultrafine particles (UFP) in a large city. Particle number (PN) concentrations were measured in residential areas around Toronto, Canada, between June and August 2008. A combination of fixed and mobile monitoring was used to assess spatial gradients between and within communities. The fixed monitoring locations included a central site, two downtown sites, and four residential sites located 6e15 km from the downtown core. The mobile data included average PN concentrations collected on 112 road segments from 10 study routes that were repeated on three separate days. The mobile data was used to create the land-use regression model while the fixed sites were used for validation purposes. The predictor variables that best described the spatial variation of PN concentration (R2 ¼ 0.72, validated R2 ¼ 0.68) included population density within 300 m, total resource and industrial area within 1000 m, total residential area within 3000 m, and major roadway and highway length within 3000 m. The LUR model successfully predicted the afternoon peak PN concentration (slope ¼ 0.96, R2 ¼ 0.86) but over-predicted the 24-h average PN concentration (slope ¼ 1.28, R2 ¼ 0.72) measured at seven fixed monitoring sites.Funding for SOCAAR was provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Innovation Trust, and the Ontario Research Fund. This work was supported by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment's Best in Science Research Program. Student stipends were provided by the Ontario Graduate Scholarships in Science and Technology. Special thanks to Matt Roorda for providing access to the micro-trip simulation traffic model and the study participants that volunteered to host the particle counting equipment in their backyards

Metro Commuter Exposures to Particulate Air Pollution and PM2.5-Associated Elements in Three Canadian Cities: The Urban Transportation Exposure Study

System-representative commuter air pollution exposure data were collected for the metro systems of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, Canada. Pollutants measured included PM2.5 (PM = particulate matter), PM10, ultrafine particles, black carbon, and the elemental composition of PM2.5. Sampling over three weeks was conducted in summer and winter for each city and covered each system on a daily basis. Mixed-effect linear regression models were used to identify system features related to particulate exposures. Ambient levels of PM2.5 and its elemental components were compared to those of the metro in each city. A microenvironmental exposure model was used to estimate the contribution of a 70 min metro commute to daily mean exposure to PM2.5 elemental and mass concentrations. Time spent in the metro was estimated to contribute the majority of daily exposure to several metallic elements of PM2.5 and 21.2%, 11.3% and 11.5% of daily PM2.5 exposure in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, respectively. Findings suggest that particle air pollutant levels in Canadian metros are substantially impacted by the systems themselves, are highly enriched in steel-based elements, and can contribute a large portion of PM2.5 and its elemental components to a metro commuter's daily exposure.The authors thank the Toronto Transit Commission, la Societé ́ de transport de Montreal, and Vancouver ́ ’s Translink for their support. We would also like to thank the field technicians from Carleton and McGill University and the universities of British Columbia, Toronto, and Montreal for their diligent work. We thank Dr. Carlyn J. Matz, Hongyu You, and Marika Egyed for their contribution to this study. We thank Dr. Phil Hopke and the journal reviewers for their insightful comments. This study was funded by Health Canada

Field Measurements of Gasoline Direct Injection Emission Factors: Spatial and Seasonal Variability

Four field campaigns were conducted between February 2014 and January 2015 to measure emissions from light-duty gasoline direct injection (GDI) vehicles (2013 Ford Focus) in an urban near-road environment in Toronto, Canada. Measurements of CO₂, CO, NO_<i>x</i>, black carbon (BC), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene-xylenes (BTEX), and size-resolved particle number (PN) were recorded 15 m from the roadway and converted to fuel-based emission factors (EFs). Other than for NO_<i>x</i> and CO, the GDI engine had elevated emissions compared to the Toronto fleet, with BC EFs in the 73rd percentile, BTEX EFs in the 80–90th percentile, and PN EFs in the 75th percentile during wintertime measurements. Additionally, for three campaigns, a second platform for measuring PN and CO₂ was placed 1.5–3 m from the roadway to quantify changes in PN with distance from point of emission. GDI vehicle PN EFs were found to increase by up to 240% with increasing distance from the roadway, predominantly due to an increasing fraction of sub-40 nm particles. PN and BC EFs from the same engine technology were also measured in the laboratory. BC EFs agreed within 20% between the laboratory and real-world measurements; however, laboratory PN EFs were an order of magnitude lower due to exhaust conditioning