Sources of fine particulate species in ambient air over Lake Champlain Basin, VT

Journal Article · Wed Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2006 · Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association

OSTI ID:20838195

Gao, Ning; Gildemeister, Amy E; Krumhansl, Kira; Lafferty, Katherine; Hopke, Philip K; Kim, Eugene; Poirot, Richard L ^[1]

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1. St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY (United States)

This study is a part of an ongoing investigation of the types and locations of emission sources that contribute fine particulate air contaminants to Underhill, VT. The air quality monitoring data used for this study are from the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments network for the period of 2001-2003 for the Underhill site. The main source-receptor modeling techniques used are the positive matrix factorization (PMF) and potential source contribution function (PSCF). This new study is intended as a comparison to a previous study of the 1988-1995 Underhill data that successfully revealed a total of 11 types of emission sources with significant contributions to this rural site. This new study has identified a total of nine sources: nitrate-rich secondary aerosol, wood smoke, East Coast oil combustion, automobile emission, metal working, soil/dust, sulfur-rich aerosol type I, sulfur-rich aerosol type II, and sea salt/road salt. Furthermore, the mass contributions from the PMF identified sources that correspond with sampling days with either good or poor visibility were analyzed to seek possible correlations. It has been shown that sulfur-rich aerosol type I, nitrate aerosol, and automobile emission are the most important contributors to visibility degradation. Soil/dust and sea salt/road salt also have an added effect. 38 refs., 17 figs., 2 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 20838195
• Journal Information: Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, Vol. 56, Issue 11; Other Information: [e-mail]; ISSN 1047-3289
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
USA
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
POLLUTION SOURCES
AIR POLLUTION
PARTICULATES
AEROSOLS
FUEL OILS
EXHAUST GASES
VEHICLES
SMOKES
WOOD
NITRATES
COMBUSTION
SOILS
SULFATES
AIR QUALITY
ANNUAL VARIATIONS
VISIBILITY
EMISSION
POLLUTION REGULATIONS
FOSSIL FUELS
COAL
CLEAN AIR ACTS
METAL INDUSTRY