Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Volume 53, Issue 13, Pages 7564-7573Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b00282
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Funding
- Environmental Defense Fund
- University of California, under Department of Energy [DE AC02 05CH11231]
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship [1106400]
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Ambient particulate matter (PM) pollution is a major environmental health risk in urban areas. Dense networks of low-cost air quality sensors are emerging to characterize the spatially heterogeneous concentrations that are typical of urban settings, but are not adequately captured using traditional regulatory monitors at central sites. In this study, we present the 100x100 BC Network, a 100-day deployment of low-cost black carbon (BC) sensors across 100 locations in West Oakland, California. This 15 km(2) community is surrounded by freeways and affected by emissions associated with local port and industrial activities. We assess the reliability of the sensor hardware and data collection systems, and identify modes of failure to both quantify and qualify network performance. We illustrate how dynamic, local emission sources build upon background BC concentrations. BC concentrations varied sharply over short distances (similar to 100 m) and timespans (similar to 1 hour), depending on surrounding land use, traffic patterns, and downwind distance from pollution sources. Strong BC concentration fluctuations were periodically observed over the diurnal and weekly cycles, reflecting the impact of localized traffic emissions and industrial facilities in the neighborhood. Overall, the results demonstrate how distributed sensor networks can reveal the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of combustion-related air pollution within urban neighborhoods.
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