COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF AMBIENT FINE PARTICULATE MATTER (PM2.5) DATA OBTAINED FROM URBAN AND RURAL MONITORING SITES ALONG THE UPPER OHIO RIVER VALLEY

Abstract

Advanced Technology Systems, Inc. (ATS), with Desert Research Institute (DRI) and Ohio University as subcontractors, was contracted by the NETL in September 1998 to manage the Upper Ohio River Valley Project (UORVP), with a goal of characterizing the ambient fine particulate in this region, including examination of urban/rural variations, correlations between PM{sub 2.5} and gaseous pollutants, and influences of artifacts on PM{sub 2.5} measurements in this region. Two urban and two rural monitoring sites were included in the UORVP. The four sites selected were all part of existing local and/or state air quality programs. One urban site was located in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at an air quality monitoring station operated by the Allegheny County Health Department. A second urban site was collocated at a West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) monitoring station at the airport in Morgantown, West Virginia. One rural site was collocated with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) at a former NARSTO-Northeast site near Holbrook, Greene County, Pennsylvania. The other rural site was collocated at a site operated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OHEPA) and managed by the Ohio State Forestry Division in Gifford State Forest near Athens, Ohio. Previous Semi-Annual Technical Progress Reports presented the following: (1) the median mass and composition of PM{sub 2.5} are similar for both Lawrenceville and Holbrook, suggesting that the sites are impacted more by the regional than by local effects; (2) there was no significant differences in the particulate trending and levels observed at both sites within seasons; (3) sulfate levels predominate at both sites and (4) PM{sub 2.5} and PM{sub 10} mass concentration levels are consistently higher in summer than in winter, with intermediate levels being observed in the fall and spring. Analyses of data conducted during the period from April 1, 2003 through September 30, 2003 are presented in this Semi-Annual Technical Progress Report. Report Revision No. 1 includes the additions or removals of text presented in the previous version of this report.