ENV 220 Air Quality Worksheet

ENV 220 Air Quality Worksheet Template Directions Complete this template by replacing the bracketed text with the relevant information. Annual Data Monitoring Site Dates Site Id: 482010024 Site Name: Houston Aldine Site County: Harris Site State: Texas Latitude: 29.901036 Longitude: -95.326137 January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023 Daily Maximum and Mean Graph the daily maximum 8-hour concentrations of ozone and daily mean particulate matter from your selected monitoring site including proper titles, axes labels, and units. The x-axis should be chronological dates through the year, and the y-axis should be the concentration of the pollutant. Ozone 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 Daily Max 8-hour Ozone Concentration at Houston Aldine for 2023 Daily Ozone ppm Time (Month, Day, Year) Ozone (ppm)

Particulate Matter 1/1/2 023 1/14/ 2023 1/27/ 2023 2/9/2 023 2/22/ 2023 3/7/2 023 3/20/ 2023 4/2/2 023 4/15/ 2023 4/28/ 2023 5/11/ 2023 5/25/ 2023 6/7/2 023 6/20/ 2023 7/3/2 023 7/22/ 2023 8/6/2 023 8/19/ 2023 9/1/2 023 9/14/ 2023 9/27/ 2023 10/10 /2023 10/23/2023 11/5/ 2023 11/18 /2023 12/1/ 2023 12/14 /2023 12/27 /2023 4/18/ 2023 9/21/ 2023 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Daily Mean PM 2.5 Concentration at Houston Aldine for 2023 Time (Month, Day, Year) Daily Mean PM 2.5 (ug/m3 LC) Annual Mean Calculate the annual mean concentration of ozone and particulate matter (PM2.5) for the monitoring site you selected. Use the Daily Max 8-hour Ozone concentration and Daily Mean PM2.5 concentration from January 1 to December 31 for your calculations. Be sure to include the proper units in the table below. Average Annual Ozone Concentration Average Annual Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Concentration 0.038 ppm 10.6 ug/m3 LC Standard Deviation Calculate the standard deviation from the mean for the annual ozone and particulate matter concentrations. Be sure to include units. Standard Deviation From Mean Annual Ozone Concentration Standard Deviation From Mean Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Concentration 0.014 ppm 4.8 ug/m3 LC Graphs Add a line to each graph you created to denote the mean and +/- 1 standard deviation from the mean for ozone and PM2.5 concentrations. Include the complete graphs below with all proper titles, axes labels, and units.

In the following section, you will examine the air quality in relation to the date you visited your habitat. Date 02/09/2024 Refer to the date you selected and determine the ozone and particulate matter concentrations on the day you visited your selected habitat at the same monitoring site as your data above. Be sure to include the proper units in the table below. Daily Max 8-hour Ozone Concentration Daily Mean Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Concentration 0.037ppm 8.3ug/m3 LC Air Quality Analysis In this section, you will use the data and graphs above to assess the air quality on the day you visited your selected habitat. Compare to the Mean Compare the annual average ozone and particulate matter concentrations from your graph to the concentrations from the date you visited your habitat. Were the concentrations higher or lower than the average you calculated above? How many standard deviations from the mean are your observations? Are the observations considered outliers? Explain how you know. The day of visitation to the selected site was 02/09/2024. The observed daily ozone level was 0.037 ppm and the daily PM2.5 was 8.3 ug/m3 LC. The average annual concentration of ozone is 0.038. There was a reduction of 0.001 ppm on the day of visitation to the site. The ozone level is within one standard deviation from the calculated mean. The daily level of PM2.5 on the day of visitation was 8.3 ug/m3 LC. The annual average of PM2.5 is 10.6 ug/m3 LC. There was a reduction of 2.3 ug/m3 LC on the day of visitation. The PM2.5 level is approximately half of one standard deviation from the calculated mean. The observations are not considered to be outliers because they align closely to the annual means and cause no change to the validity of the data. Compare to Last Year

Compare the ozone and PM2.5 concentrations from the same date last year. Were the concentrations higher or lower? The ozone level for 02/09/2023 was 0.026ppm and the PM2.5 level was 10.7 ug/m3 LC. The ozone level in 2023 was 0.011ppm lower than in 2024. The PM2.5 level in 2023 was 2.4 ug/m3 LC higher than 2024. Potential Factors Identify potential factors that may have led to higher or lower than average concentrations of ozone and PM2.5 on this date. Consider the following questions:  How does ozone form?  Are there any active wildfires in this area?  What was the weather like at your selected location on the day of observations? A potential factor that could account for the variation in data between the differing dates is weather. The recorded weather data for 02/04/2023 showed a high temperature of 72 and a low of 44. There was no precipitation, and the max wind speed was 12 mph. The weather for 02/09/2024 showed a high temperature of 78 and a low of 65. There was no precipitation, and the max wind speed was 20 mph. There was a small difference in ozone levels between the two dates and the weather was relatively the same as well. A factor that could contribute to the small difference could be cloud cover versus sunlight, since increased sunlight can lead to more ground-level ozone (Center for Science Education, 2024). The wind speed could be a contributing factor for the elevated PM2.5 level in 2023 over the level in 2024. In 2023 the wind speed was 13 mph and in 2024 the wind speed was 20 mph, leading to more movement in air flow that could allow PM2.5 particles to be dispersed faster. AQI and Health Risks Examine the Daily AQI at this site for ozone and PM2.5 on this date to gather context on whether these concentrations present health concerns. Write a clear and concise summary of the potential health impacts that this level on the Air Quality Index presents.