Mechanistic modeling of the interrelationships between indoor/outdoor air quality and human exposure in a GIS framework
Evaluation of human exposure to atmospheric contaminants such as ozone and particulate matter (PM) is often based on measured data from fixed ambient (outdoors) Air Monitoring Stations. This results in an artificial characterization of indoor exposures, as concentrations and physicochemical attributes of indoor pollutants vary significantly and are different from corresponding outdoor values. A mechanistically-based modeling approach is presented here that aims to improve estimates for the outdoor/indoor relationships of photochemical pollutants and of associated fine particles and, subsequently, of human exposure assessments. New approaches for refining the spatial, temporal, and indoor/outdoor patterns of gas phase photochemical contaminants and PM are currently being developed and tested. These approaches are combined with information from either ambient monitoring networks or from ambient air quality models that consider aerosol physics and chemistry coupled with gas phase photochemistry (e.g. UAM-AERO). This process utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Relational Database (RD) methods, to facilitate detailed exposure scenario construction (involving e.g. the geographic location of an individual considered in time) and to aid in the estimation of population exposure over selected geographic areas. The combination of monitor data or air quality modeling with microenvironmental modeling in a GIS framework can potentially provide a useful platform for more accurate assessments of human exposure to co-occurring gas and particulate phase air pollutants.
- Research Organization:
- Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Inst., Piscataway, NJ (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20003312
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-990608-; TRN: IM200003%%147
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Air and Waste 92nd Annual Meeting and Exhibition, St. Louis, MO (US), 06/20/1999--06/24/1999; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating Systems: Windows 3.1, '95, '98 and NT; Macintosh; and UNIX; PBD: 1999; Related Information: In: Air and Waste 92nd annual meeting and exhibition proceedings, [9500] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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