TY - JOUR
T1 - Using low-cost measurement systems to investigate air quality
T2 - A case study in Palapye, Botswana
AU - Lassman, William
AU - Pierce, Jeffrey R.
AU - Bangs, Evelyn J.
AU - Sullivan, Amy P.
AU - Ford, Bonne
AU - Tsidu, Gizaw Mengistu
AU - Sherman, James P.
AU - Collett, Jeffrey L.
AU - Bililign, Solomon
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: We would like to acknowledge the NSF-IRES Grant number 1559308 for providing the financial support for the travel and logistics for conducting these measurements. We would like to acknowledge NASA grant nos. NNX17AF94A and 80NSSC18M0120 for supporting the development of the AMOD. Acknowledgments: We would like to acknowledge our colleagues and hosts at BIUST for their scientific support and hospitality. We would especially like to mention Elisha Shemang for his assistance with the visit logistics, and Serowalo Mokgosi for providing laboratory space for our research operations. We would like to acknowledge the BIUST students who participated in the sun photometer measurements including: Samuel Lebengwa, Hope Solomon, Bosa Mosekiemang, Fekadu Demisse, Mulugeta Melaku, Anteneh Getachew, and many others. We would like to acknowledge the other students who travelled for the project: Ian Krintz (Appalachian State University), Brandon Lewis (North Carolina State University), Julian Gordon (North Carolina A&T University), and Ana Carrell (North Carolina A&T University).
Funding Information:
Funding: We would like to acknowledge the NSF-IRES Grant number 1559308 for providing the financial support for the travel and logistics for conducting these measurements. We would like to acknowledge NASA grant nos. NNX17AF94A and 80NSSC18M0120 for supporting the development of the AMOD.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.
PY - 2020/6/1
Y1 - 2020/6/1
N2 - Exposure to particulate air pollution is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. In developing countries, the combustion of solid fuels is widely used as a source of energy, and this process can produce exposure to harmful levels of particulate matter with diameters smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5). However, as countries develop, solid fuel may be replaced by centralized coal combustion, and vehicles burning diesel and gasoline may become common, changing the concentration and composition of PM2.5, which ultimately changes the population health effects. Therefore, there is a continuous need for in-situ monitoring of air pollution in developing nations, both to estimate human exposure and to monitor changes in air quality. In this study, we present measurements from a 5-week field experiment in Palapye, Botswana. We used a low-cost, highly portable instrument package to measure surface-based aerosol optical depth (AOD), real-time surface PM2.5 concentrations using a third-party optical sensor, and time-integrated PM2.5 concentration and composition by collecting PM2.5 onto Teflon filters. Furthermore, we employed other low-cost measurements of real-time black carbon and time-integrated ammonia to help interpret the observed PM2.5 composition and concentration information during the field experiment. We found that the average PM2.5 concentration (9.5 μg·m-3) was below the World Health Organization (WHO) annual limit, and this concentration closely agrees with estimates from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report estimates for this region. Sulfate aerosol and carbonaceous aerosol, likely from coal combustion and biomass burning, respectively, were the main contributors to PM2.5 by mass (33% and 27% of totalPM2.5 mass, respectively). While these observed concentrations were on average below WHO guidelines, we found that the measurement site experienced higher concentrations of aerosol during first half our measurement period (14.5 μg·m-3), which is classified as "moderately unhealthy" according to the WHO standard.
AB - Exposure to particulate air pollution is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. In developing countries, the combustion of solid fuels is widely used as a source of energy, and this process can produce exposure to harmful levels of particulate matter with diameters smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5). However, as countries develop, solid fuel may be replaced by centralized coal combustion, and vehicles burning diesel and gasoline may become common, changing the concentration and composition of PM2.5, which ultimately changes the population health effects. Therefore, there is a continuous need for in-situ monitoring of air pollution in developing nations, both to estimate human exposure and to monitor changes in air quality. In this study, we present measurements from a 5-week field experiment in Palapye, Botswana. We used a low-cost, highly portable instrument package to measure surface-based aerosol optical depth (AOD), real-time surface PM2.5 concentrations using a third-party optical sensor, and time-integrated PM2.5 concentration and composition by collecting PM2.5 onto Teflon filters. Furthermore, we employed other low-cost measurements of real-time black carbon and time-integrated ammonia to help interpret the observed PM2.5 composition and concentration information during the field experiment. We found that the average PM2.5 concentration (9.5 μg·m-3) was below the World Health Organization (WHO) annual limit, and this concentration closely agrees with estimates from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report estimates for this region. Sulfate aerosol and carbonaceous aerosol, likely from coal combustion and biomass burning, respectively, were the main contributors to PM2.5 by mass (33% and 27% of totalPM2.5 mass, respectively). While these observed concentrations were on average below WHO guidelines, we found that the measurement site experienced higher concentrations of aerosol during first half our measurement period (14.5 μg·m-3), which is classified as "moderately unhealthy" according to the WHO standard.
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U2 - 10.3390/atmos11060583
DO - 10.3390/atmos11060583
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85086892830
SN - 2073-4433
VL - 11
JO - ATMOSPHERE
JF - ATMOSPHERE
IS - 6
M1 - 583
ER -