Air Quality in Windsor (Canada) and Impact of Regional Scale Transport
| Autor: | Rongtai Tan, Xiaohong Xu, Yangfan Chen, Tianchu Zhang |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Pollution
Atmospheric Science 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences media_common.quotation_subject HYSPLIT 010501 environmental sciences Environmental Science (miscellaneous) Warm season 01 natural sciences Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) Human health Meteorology. Climatology Environmental health Health risk Air quality index Air mass 0105 earth and related environmental sciences media_common Cold season regional transport air quality 6. Clean water 13. Climate action Environmental science QC851-999 Windsor |
| Zdroj: | Atmosphere, Vol 12, Iss 1300, p 1300 (2021) Atmosphere Volume 12 Issue 10 |
| ISSN: | 2073-4433 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/atmos12101300 |
| Popis: | Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is a scale designed in Canada to help residences understand the impact of air quality on health. This study investigated temporal variability of daily AQHI and impact of regional transport on AQHI in Windsor, Ontario, Canada from 2016 to 2019. The four-year average daily AQHI was 2.9, slightly below the upper limit of the low health risk level of 3. AQHI value decreased from 2.95 to 2.81 during the study period, indicating the improvement of air quality. Half of the days, AQHI were 3 regardless of season. AQHI was higher in the warm season (3.1) than in the cold season (2.6) due to more frequent moderate risk days (27%, AQHI = 4) in warm season and more frequent low risk days (42%, AQHI = 2) in the cold season. Among the three pollutants considered, O3 was the most frequently reported dominant contributor to daily AQHI (88% of days), followed by NO2 (12%), especially in the cold season, with small contribution from PM2.5 (< 1%). Trajectory analysis found that AQHI ≤ 3 days were closely associated with air masses from the north and northwest, whereas AQHI > 3 days were closely associated with air masses from the west and southwest. This is because northerly flows brought in clear air mass owing to less industrial facilities. Polluted air masses were transported from the south of Windsor, where several industrial states of the US were located. Directional AQHI resembles O3 more than NO2 or PM2.5 concentrations do. Further improvement of AQHI in Windsor could be challenging because O3 concentrations have continued to increase in recent years. Thus, more effective control measures to mitigate O3 pollution are warranted to reduce its impact on human health and the environment. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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