Lab #4
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University of Nebraska, Omaha *
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Dec 6, 2023
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Introduction to Human-Environment Geography (GEOG 1050) Laboratory
Lab #4: Environmental Hazards: Air Pollution
Introduction
Air pollution is defined as the emission or release of pollutants into the atmosphere, where the
pollutants are visible or invisible particles/gases that are not a part of the normal composition of
air. Perhaps the most obvious pollutants are the airborne wastes associated with fuel combustion,
which are seen emitted from factories, power plants, and vehicles. Particulate matter is often the
most visible source of air pollution, and is arguably the largest source of anthropogenic air
pollution. However, there are also natural (non-anthropogenic) sources, such as the particulate
matter and gases emitted by volcanoes, the smoke from lightning-causes fires, dust storms, and
pollen. Regardless of source, particulate matter can be harmful to plant, animal, and human life
and well-being.
The primary objectives for today are to:
1.
Develop a working definition of particulate matter and comprehend the indices used to
track/monitor it
2.
Assess and compare air quality across the United States, in Omaha, and in other locations
worldwide
3.
Measure air quality in different locations and make comparisons across space
Background
Sources of Air Pollution
There are three categories of anthropogenic air pollution: Point, Area, and Mobile. A point source
is perhaps most simply thought of as a feature that is fixed in space that emits a large amount of
pollutants, such as a factory smokestack. In contrast, area sources are a combination of multiple,
less impactful, sources that when combined, emit a large amount of pollutants. An example of
area sources would be a park with multiple campsites, where each site had a campfire. A single
campfire itself produces small amounts of pollutants, but the combined impact of 20-30
campfires together create a substantial emission. Mobile sources are ones that move, such as
those from sources of transportation (i.e. cars, trucks, trains, plains, etc.).
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines five Criteria Pollutants, pollutants for
which there are established laws and standards for air quality. They are: ozone (ground level),
particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Definitions of these
criteria pollutants is available below, and further information can be found at:
https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants
. With higher concentrations of these pollutants, there
are higher health risks including: aggravated cardiovascular and respiratory illness, added stress
to the heart and lungs, respiratory system cell damage, fatigue, asthma, irritation of eyes, nose,
and throat, and shortness of breath.
Ozone (ground-level): Tri-atomic oxygen (O
3
) which forms by chemical reaction between
nitrogen oxides (NO
x
) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) when exposed to sunlight. NOx
and VOC are byproducts of various combustion reactions.
Particulate Matter (PM): Small particles in the air, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke. There are
two varieties: PM
2.5
and PM
10
. The number corresponds to the size of the particulates, in
micrometers. PM
2.5
are about 2.5 micrometers and smaller (about the 30 times larger than the
thickness of a human hair. PM
10
are 10 micrometers or smaller.
Carbon Monoxide (CO): A odorless and colorless gas released when something is burned, such
as natural gas, gasoline, and organic matter.
Sulfur Dioxide (SO
2
): Compound primarily resulting from fossil-fuel-based combustion at power
plants, however vehicles, mining and volcanic eruptions also emit SO
2
.
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO
2
): A highly reactive gas which is emitted to the atmosphere due to the
burning of fuel such as gasoline and diesel.
Air Quality Index
To assist in determining how clean (or polluted) the air is, and inform the associated health risks,
the Air Quality Index (AQI) was created. It focuses on the health impacts you may experience
after a few hours or days breathing the polluted air, and is based on levels of five (of six;
excludes lead) criteria pollutants. The AQI works as a running scale from 0-500, where the lower
the number, the cleaner and safer the air, and the higher the number, the more polluted the air.
While lower is better, values below 100 are generally considered satisfactory. The following
tables outlines the AQI’s values.
Measuring Air Quality
Hand-held instruments will be provided in class. They sample the air directly in contact with the
device, and report the value onto the screen. Similar to lab 2, these are “point and click” type
instruments. Please treat these with care and do not touch the sensor. Do not breathe into the
sensor.
Further Information and Data used in Lab
In reaching the learning goals for today’s lab, we will be utilizing data from a variety of air
quality monitoring groups within the US and worldwide. AirNow, a part of the EPA
(
https://www.airnow.gov/
), provides near real-time observations of air quality and allows for
comparisons between cities, based on the last 10 years of data
(
https://www3.epa.gov/aircompare/
). Additionally, data are available globally from World Air
Quality Index project (
https://waqi.info/
). We will be providing you case-study data for analysis
in lab, however you are welcome to explore these data on your own.
Questions
Part 1 – Real-Time Air Pollution Conditions
You will be provided with (a) AQI map of the United States, (b) AQI map of the Omaha area, (c)
table of AQI criteria pollutants for Omaha area, (d) AQI map for the world, and (e) AQI data for
two specific locations outside the United States.
1.
Using (a), describe the AQI across the U.S. Be sure to note the general areas where AQI
is not Good (i.e. where is it Moderate, USG, Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy, and/or
Hazardous).
Most of the U.S. has good air quality. California has moderate air quality and in some
parts, hazardous air quality. New Mexico, Oregon, Arizona, Kansas, and North Dakota
have some spots (that look like dots) that are heavily populated cities and thus have
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moderate or unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups. California is the only state with
air quality surpassing 150 AQI
2.
Where is the location with the highest AQI? What’s the AQI, approximately?
Fresno California (about)
3.
What sort of health impacts could be expected at an ‘unhealthy’ or high category?
Aggravated cardiovascular and respiratory sickness
Added stress to heart and lungs, which must work harder to provide the body with
oxygen
Damaged cells in the respiratory system
Fatigue, asthma, irritation of eyes, nose, and throat, and shortness of breath.
4.
Using (b) and (c), answer the following:
The current AQI in Omaha is ____
Good
_.
The current Ozone concentration is _______
9
___________.
The current PM10 concentration is _________
19
__________.
The current PM2.5 concentration is __________
35
_________.
5.
Examining the forecast for today and tomorrow (using (c)), do we need to be concerned
about air quality? Why or why not?
No, we do not need to be concerned about the air quality forecast because the AQI value is
in the “good” range.
6.
Keeping these values in mind, let’s put them into context of values across the world.
Using (d), where is AQI data generally available, based on the map? Where is it not
available?
Data is available throughout North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, China, India (the
wealthier countries). It is not available in central South America, parts of Africa, parts of
Russia, Central Australia, Some of Canada, and then the poles.
7.
Hypothesize why AQI data is available (or not available) where it is (or isn’t).
Poorer countries have a harder time accessing the same materials and equipment needed to
make these surveys. They also have a lot more going on and cannot necessarily prioritize
this at the moment. (Economic restraint and political priorities)
8.
Two locations, not in the United States, are provided to examine in further detail (e). Use
them to answer the following questions. If you’d prefer to choose your own locations,
please confirm this with your instructor prior to working.
Location 1 ______
Beijing
_______
Its AQI _____
119
_______
a)
What is the primary pollutant contributing to the AQI?
PM 2.5 and PM 10
b)
The color of the clouds in the Air Quality Forecast area (slightly down the page)
match the colors of the AQI. How is AQI forecasted to change over the next few days,
in comparison to its current value?
The air quality is going to get progressively worse through Friday. Saturday and
Sunday, it will improve, eventually changing to moderate on Tuesday the 29
th
.
c)
What about this specific location may contribute to its AQI? (hint: think about
population, sources of pollution, general climate, etc.)
Location 2 __
Lima, Peru
____________
Its AQI _____
68
_______
d)
What is the primary pollutant contributing to the AQI?
PM 2.5
e)
The color of the clouds in the Air Quality Forecast area (slightly down the page)
match the colors of the AQI. How is AQI forecasted to change over the next few days,
in comparison to its current value?
The AQI will be getting better slowly and slightly over the next few days.
f)
What about this specific location may contribute to its AQI? (hint: think about
population, sources of pollution, general climate, etc.)
Lima has a much smaller population, they are less industrialized, and the topography of
the area influences AQI.
Part 2 – Sampling Air Quality
Using the provided instruments, you will work as a team to measure levels of Particulate Matter
(PM) at three near-by locations: in the classroom, in the atrium of DSC, outside in an open area.
Fill out the tables below and answer the analysis questions.
9.
Of the three locations (classroom, atrium, outside), which do you hypothesize to have the
highest levels of PM? Why?
I hypothesize the classroom with have higher particulate matter values.
10. How could you test your hypothesis?
Compare the samples for PM 2.5 and PM 10 across locations.
11. Fill out the tables below, based on your observations. Take 3 samples at each site and
calculate an average for both PM 2.5 and PM 10.
PM 2.5
Site Location
Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
Average
Classroom
3.1
3.8
3.2
3.37
Corridor
3
3.3
3.9
3.4
Outside
9.1
10.5
11.5
10.36
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PM 10
Site Location
Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
Average
Classroom
7.9
8
4.1
6.67
Corridor
5.3
3.5
5.3
4.7
Outside
12.5
13.8
14
13.43
12. Which site had the highest PM average? Was your hypothesis correct?
Outside of this building the AQI was much higher for both 2.5 and 10 PM
13. Which site had the most variation between the three PM samples?
The classroom had the most variation between values for PM 10 and PM 2.5 values were
pretty close in range in most locations.
14. Consider the outside observation. How does that compare to the PM value of the Omaha
AQI values, (b) and (c)?
Our outside value average was 10.36 for PM 2.5, while Omaha’s is 35, so there is a decrease
of 32.5 in PM 2.5 for University of Nebraska (specifically outside Durham)
Our outside average for PM 10 was 13.43, which is relatively close to Omaha’s score of 19.
Omaha is just 5.57 points higher than the University.
15. Why do you suspect our observed value in lab was (different/similar) to the value
reported by AirNow?
I suspect our observed value was different compared to the value reported by AirNow
because we are not trained scientists or professional data technicians. Because of this, I
think our data is unreliable. There are also many other factors in play, such as wind,
temperatures, the amount of people and cars, etc.