A Project to Characterize The Effects of
Transient Air Pollutants on the Health of
African-Americans in Atlanta, Georgia
John H. Hall
Morehouse College
Indoor Exposure and Health Effects
• Pulmonary and cardiovascular health
• Asthma
• Ischemic Heart Disease
The Objectives
1) To investigate the nature of transient pollutants in metro Atlanta
and their concomitant effect on the health of African-Americans
residing in the central city;
2) To provide, for the first time, a high time resolution and extended
period speciated measurement of the spatial distribution of
Atlanta fine aerosols (PM2.5, particulate matter with
aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 microns);
3) To develop the experimental expertise to identify differences in
indoor and outdoor pollutant concentrations and factors that
influence those differences;
The Objectives
4) To examine personal exposure to particulate and other pollutants
in a homogeneous population, by identifying very short-term
exposure excursions in cardiovascular-related morbidity and
mortality using real-time measurements.
5) To examine the relationship between the effects of airborne
pollutants on this homogeneous sample population and effects
of airborne pollutants on the heterogeneous population at large.
6) To assess the impact of short-term changes in air pollution levels
on pulmonary and cardiovascular health.
Three Year Project
• In Year 1, we propose studying an African-American
population district in central Atlanta.
• In Year 2, monitoring would be moved to an area in
southeast Atlanta, also predominantly AfricanAmerican, in conjunction with a detailed monitoring
program to be undertaken at the South Atlanta
Environmental Protection Division monitoring site.
• In Year 3, monitoring will be moved to a site in
Tucker, Georgia, in east of Atlanta, an area with a
predominance of non-minority residents. A similar air
pollution monitoring program is in place in this area.
Instrumentation
• Pulsed Infrared Laser Spectroscopy /Ion Chromatography
(PILS/IC, developed at GA Tech)
• Organic Carbon/Elemental Carbon analyzer (OC/EC)
• Tapered-Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM)
• Short-Time Resolution Ion Chromatography (IC)
Instrumentation
• The PILS-IC, provides measurements of 11 different fine
aerosol ionic species at a time resolution of 15 minutes with
a lower detection limit of about 50 ng/m3.
• Organic Carbon/Elemental Carbon (OC/EC) Aerosol
Analyzer - organic and elemental carbon (OC/EC) in situ
• Tapered-Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM)
apparatus sampling airstreams in five-minute intervals
alternating from indoors to outdoors.
• Short-time resolution ion chromatography-based system - to
collect five-minute-averaged data on sulfate and nitrate
concentrations utilizing a similar alternating indoor and out
sampling protocol.
Instrument
Quantity
Species Measured
Sampling
Rate
TEOM®
1
PM2.5 Dry Mass
1 hour
Sunset Labs
OC/EC
1
Total organic (non – speciated)
and elemental carbon
1 hour
repeated every
2 hours
1
Nitrate, sulfate, ammonium,
chloride, sodium, calcium,
potassium, magnesium, light
organic acids
15 minutes
PILS/IC
Table 1: Instrumentation for a Ground-Based Outdoor Continuous Aerosol Speciation
Monitoring Site
Difference, %
-3
Fine Aerosol Mass, µg m
40
0
-40
-80
70
PM2.5
OC x 1.4 + EC + Sulfate + Ammonium
60
50
40
30
20
10
8/5 /99
8/9 /99
8/1 3/99
8/1 7/99
8/2 1/99
8/2 5/99
8/2 9/99
Eastern Standard Time
Figure 1. Mass balance of fine aerosol in Atlanta. Dry PM2.5 (preheated
to 50°C) is compared to the sum of the OC x 1.4, EC, sulfate, and
ammonium. The top plot shows the percent difference between this sum
and the measured total mass. The agreement between these independent
measurements attests to the accuracy of the various speciated
measurements.
Fine Aerosol Mass, µg m
-3
70
a.
Dry PM2.5 Mass
Sulfate
Total Organic Carbon
Elemental Carbon
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
8/5/99
Fine Aerosol Mass, µg m
-3
70
8/9/99
8/13 /99
1s
A
2c
1c
8/17 /99
8/21 /99
60
3c
50
8/29 /99
Dry PM2.5 Mass
4c
Sulfate
Elemental Carbon
Organic Carbon x 1.4
4s
2s 3s
8/25 /99
b.
B
40
C
30
20
10
8/5/99
8/9/99
8/13 /99
8/17 /99
8/21 /99
8/25 /99
8/29 /99
Eastern Standard Time
Figure 2. Chemical composition of the fine aerosol compared to the total PM2.5 mass.
Plot a) shows results from a daily 24h average and b), 1h average. In plot b), four specific
events in which the peak in PM2.5 is driven by sulfate (solid arrow, 1s – 4s) and by
EC/OC (dotted arrow 1c –4c) are shown in the graph. Table 1 summaries pertinent
measurements at these times. Note that in some cases, the EC/OC events are also
associated with sulfate, examples are labeled with letters A-D.
Table 2: Time, Total Aerosol Fine Mass, And Concentration Of Aerosol Species During
Episodes Identified In Figure 2.
Labe Day of Hour PM2.5 SO4= NO3- NH4+
l
Aug.
at
µg m-3 µg m- µg m- µg m-3
3
3
99
Peak
EST
1c
7
6:30
43.1 11.8 0.9
2c
12
8:30
53.9 14.3 1.3
4.0
3c
18
7:30
37.8 11.4 0.6
3.0
4c
27
7:30
48.6 14.2 1.9
4.8
OC
µgC
m-3
EC
µgC
m-3
SO4=/P TC/PM#
M
11.8
15.0
10.7
12.2
7.8
10.9
5.5
9.4
0.27
0.27
0.30
0.29
0.56
0.59
0.54
0.54
1s*
2s
3s
4s
10
16
17
20
17:00
15.:30
15:30
15:30
60.2
46.8
50.8
60.1
37.7
25.6
30.8
35.8
0.2
0.6
0.3
0.4
6.8
5.1
4.0
5.2
8.1
8.3
7.6
9.9
2.1
2.5
2.0
3.1
0.63
0.55
0.61
0.60
0.22
0.30
0.25
0.28
A
B
C
6
21
30
6:30
7:30
22:30
65.7
45.0
33.8
27.6
21.9
13.6
0.9
3.1
0.2
NA
7.9
4.0
12.2
8.1
7.1
8.7
3.9
1.7
0.42
0.49
0.40
0.39
0.34
0.34
# TC/PM is the total carbon (OC x 1.4 + EC) divided by fine aerosol mass (PM2.5)
* Since the sulfate peaked 1 hour prior to the PM2.5 in this case, the average over 2 hours is
given here. At 16:30 the sulfate peak was 41.2 µg m-3 and the PM2.5 49.8 µg m-3, in the
following hour, 17:30, the sulfate was 34.2 µg m-3 and PM2.5 70.7 µg m-3.
Health Study with Human Subjects
The pollutants monitored will be:
1) PM 2.5- 24 hour integrated sample, pump and filter
2) Ozone- Ogawa Type Badge, Analysis by Ion
Chromatography
3) SO2- Ogawa Type Badge, Analysis by Ion Chromatography
4) NO2- Ogawa Type Badge, Analysis by Ion Chromatography
5) EC/OC- 24 Integrated Samples. Analyzed by reflectance
and thermal distillation
Conclusions
• This is a reasonable method to obtain new
information regarding pollutants and health
effects.
• The concentrations of pollutants vary greatly during
the day.
• Real time monitoring will provide valuable
information regarding the effects of pollution on
individual health at various times of the day, and
• Study will provide valuable information on how to
decrease the risk of health injury due to pollutants for
all people, in all areas of the city.