Air Pollution Science in the MCMA: Understanding Source-Receptor Relationships through Emissions Inventories, Measurements, and Modeling

Abstract

Throughout the world, air pollution science has been important in defining and characterizing the air pollution problem and the health risks it imposes. Air pollution by sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, ozone, and particulates has been linked unequivocally to anthropogenic emissions. Air pollution science has also played a central role in evaluating the extent to which various control actions might reduce ambient exposures, despite the fact that uncertainties in relating emissions at sources and concentrations at receptors are often significant. In the 1980s, for example, modeling studies of ozone formation in the US suggested that controls on VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions would be sufficient to reduce concentrations of ozone. Because VOC controls were thought to be inexpensive, they were emphasized at that time(NRC, 1991).