Identification and Verification of Ultrafine Particle Affinity Zones in Urban Neighbourhoods / A Proof of Concept Proposal

城市社区中超细颗粒亲和区的识别和验证/概念验证提案

• 批准号: NE/E009565/1
• 负责人: Martin Gallagher
• 金额: $ 9.98万
• 依托单位: University of Manchester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FE009565%2F1
• 关键词: Identification; Verification; Ultrafine; Particle; Affinity

Recent research has revealed that inhalation of particulate pollution in the atmosphere of British cities can cause or worsen a number of respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, even leading to an increase in the number of deaths amongst vulnerable persons on especially polluted days. Particulate pollution consists of a wide range of substances present in the air as suspended particles of a wide range of sizes. There is some evidence that the smallest particles, known as ultrafine particles (or UFP), are the most toxic, possibly irrespective of their chemical composition. It is believed that road vehicle emissions are the major source of UFP (although this is yet to be verified in the UK), although many cooking activities can also generate high concentrations. However, not everyone is affected in the same way and this will partly be due to the way that the concentration of UFP in the air is not uniform across a city, but varies enormously - not only between districts, but between local neighbourhoods and even from one street to another. Thus, the dose of UFP to the lungs of any one individual can be considerably different to any other individual depending upon not only exactly where they live, but also where they work or study and how they travel. In order to judge whether or not inhalation of UFP is genuinely causing ill health amongst the population it is necessary to find a way of assessing how much UFP different citizens (and especially vulnerable sub-groups) are exposed to. It is not practical to place UFP monitors in every home and workplace across a city. On the other hand, placing a single monitor in a fixed location within a conurbation so that it represents the exposure of everyone within that conurbation (as is done for some gaseous pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide) is not appropriate for UFP due to the high degree of variability in concentrations across an urban area. A third method / dispersion modelling / is not a viable option for UFP at present as it requires very detailed information on emission sources that we do not yet have. These shortcomings in our knowledge are preventing us from correctly quantifying the threat UFP poses public health and from developing and assessing any strategies to reduce this threat. Recent developments in measurement technology now present an opportunity to overcome this impasse. This proposal combines the expertise of three teams within the University of Manchester linking atmospheric measurements with Geographical Information Science (GISc) and environmental health researchers. Together, we have devised a programme of research in which we start to look at spatial variability in outdoor concentrations on a small scale (between adjacent streets) in residential neighbourhoods of Manchester. Measurements are made and spatial patterns in concentrations are related to variability in sources (such as traffic density) and to patterns describing the exposed population within that neighbourhood (such as the daytime population density). From this analysis we can define zones (at the neighbourhood scale) within which concentrations vary little. The remainder of the project is focussed upon experimentally comparing concentrations between these zones and gradually building up a picture of how and most importantly, why UFP concentrations vary across a large segment of the city of Manchester. Once complete, the project will have provided a foundation for subsequent research by allowing researchers to quantify the exposure of urban citizens with much more confidence than at present, and to site more sophisticated monitoring instrumentation at a small number of fixed locations, or a single one, with a much clearer understanding of how measurements at this one location can relate to exposure of citizens across a wide urban area.

最近的研究表明，吸入英国城市大气中的颗粒污染物会导致或恶化一些呼吸道和心血管疾病，甚至导致在污染特别严重的日子里脆弱人群的死亡人数增加。颗粒污染包括空气中存在的各种各样的物质，如各种大小的悬浮颗粒。有一些证据表明，最小的颗粒，称为超细颗粒（或UFP），是最有毒的，可能与其化学成分无关。据信，道路车辆排放是UFP的主要来源（尽管这在英国尚未得到证实），尽管许多烹饪活动也会产生高浓度。然而，并非每个人都受到同样的影响，部分原因是空气中UFP的浓度在整个城市中并不均匀，而是差异很大-不仅在地区之间，而且在当地社区之间，甚至从一条街道到另一条街道。因此，任何一个人肺部的UFP剂量可能与任何其他人有很大的不同，这不仅取决于他们居住的确切地点，还取决于他们在哪里工作或学习以及他们如何旅行。为了判断吸入UFP是否真的会导致人群健康不良，有必要找到一种方法来评估不同公民（特别是弱势亚群体）暴露于UFP的程度。在城市的每个家庭和工作场所放置UFP监视器是不切实际的。另一方面，在一个大城市的固定位置放置一个单一的监测器，以代表该大城市内每个人的暴露情况（如对某些气体污染物，如二氧化硫所做的），由于整个城市地区的浓度变化程度很高，因此不适合用于UFP。第三种方法/扩散模型/目前不是UFP的可行选择，因为它需要关于排放源的非常详细的信息，而我们还没有。我们知识中的这些缺陷使我们无法正确量化UFP对公共卫生构成的威胁，也无法制定和评估任何减少这种威胁的战略。测量技术的最新发展为克服这一僵局提供了机会。该提案结合了曼彻斯特大学三个团队的专业知识，将大气测量与地理信息科学（GISc）和环境健康研究人员联系起来。我们一起设计了一个研究方案，在该方案中，我们开始研究曼彻斯特住宅区小规模（相邻街道之间）室外浓度的空间变异性。进行了测量，浓度的空间模式与来源的变异性（如交通密度）和描述该地区受影响人口的模式（如白天人口密度）有关。通过这种分析，我们可以确定浓度变化不大的区域（在邻域尺度上）。该项目的其余部分集中在实验上比较这些区域之间的浓度，并逐步建立一个如何，最重要的是，为什么UFP浓度在曼彻斯特市的大部分地区变化的图片。一旦完成，该项目将为随后的研究提供基础，使研究人员能够比现在更有信心地量化城市居民的暴露，并在少数固定地点或单一地点安装更复杂的监测仪器，更清楚地了解这一地点的测量如何与广大城市地区公民的暴露有关。

项目成果

Identification and verification of ultrafine particle affinity zones in urban neighbourhoods: sample design and data pre-processing.

城市社区中超细颗粒亲和区的识别和验证：样本设计和数据预处理。

• DOI: 10.1186/1476-069x-8-s1-s5
• 发表时间: 2009
• 期刊: a global access science source
• 作者: Harris P

Linking urban aerosol fluxes in street canyons to larger scale emissions

将街道峡谷中的城市气溶胶通量与更大规模的排放联系起来

• DOI: 10.5194/acp-10-2475-2010
• 发表时间: 2010
• 期刊: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• 影响因子: 6.3
• 作者: Tay B