Particle sampling and analysis in the California San Joaquin Valley. Final report Jul 78-Jul 80

Technical Report · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:5107332

Heisler, S L; Baskett, R

The California Central Valley experiences significant air pollution during certain times of the year. For some time, the origins of pollution have been debated. It is not certain how much of the pollution comes from transport, or how much is locally generated. As a part of a large investigation of these questions, an exploratory aerosol characterization program was conducted at the same time other air quality observations and tracer studies were undertaken. The results of the aerosol study indicate that the particulate matter sampled during short periods of the winter 1978 and summer and fall 1979 were dominated by soil dust, sulfate, nitrate and carbon. This was true of both the particles approximately less than 20 micrometers aerodynamic diameter, and approximately less than 2.5 micrometers aerodynamic diameter. Fine particles made up half or less of the material sampled. Sulfate concentrations and carbon were reasonably uniform through the months and locations sampled, but there was significantly more nitrate found in winter than in the summer. Some evidence for enrichment in ammonium was found in the aircraft data. The contributions of source to particle samples were estimated by the chemical element balance method. Blowing dust from cultivated and uncultivated land, unidentified carbon sources, and material from atmospheric chemical reactions (ammonium sulfate and nitrate) accounted for most of the material collected.

• Research Organization: Environmental Research and Technology, Inc., Westlake Village, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5107332
• Report Number(s): PB-82-164369
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOL MONITORING
AIR POLLUTION
CALIFORNIA
CARBON
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
DUSTS
ELEMENTS
FEDERAL REGION IX
GAS ANALYSIS
MONITORING
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
POLLUTION
SAMPLING
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SOILS
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
USA
VALLEYS
VARIATIONS