Project 2: Spatio-Temporal Pollutant Tracking in the atmosphere: An Integrated Laboratory, Modeling, and Measurement Study

项目2：项目概要/摘要 该项目提出了一种新的方法（时空污染物跟踪），以评估 污染物在大气中传输和转化，我们的假设是，我们可以应用Spatio- 时间污染物跟踪，以改善对潜在暴露和最终公共健康的估计 有害环境污染物的影响。这些信息对于准确的风险评估至关重要 以及制定有效的补救政策，但目前受到大气环境不确定性的限制。 化学和运输。大气层是一种有效的媒介， 污染物（形成的产物可能具有母体化合物的更高或更低毒性）和快速 污染物的迁移（导致其时空分布的巨大不均匀性）。这种高 在暴露评估中往往不考虑大气污染物的反应性和高度可变性， 关键差距，导致特定环境/健康的最终影响存在重大不确定性。 化工有限为了减少这种不确定性，我们将开发一系列新的最先进的工具，以更好地 量化这种化学处理和运输：1）开发和部署传感器来测量 关键大气物种的浓度; 2）大气转化污染物的实验室研究 污染物化学和传输模型，以预测污染物 浓度和命运。这三种方法是高度互补的，每种方法的产出都提供了信息， 另外两个。该项目的核心是不仅研究最初的化学和分布- 排放的化合物（“主要污染物”），而且其多代大气 在某些情况下可能更危险的二次污染物 而不是前体化合物。该项目最初侧重于多环芳烃， 我们已经进行了初步研究的重要类别的有毒化合物，并允许 发展我们的方法论。然后，我们的方法将被扩展并应用于亚硝胺（例如，不，不 亚硝基二甲胺，NDMA）和类似化合物，并最终转化为其他感兴趣的化合物。的 这些物种的大气水平的改进表征将为其他环境研究提供信息。 域（例如，水和沉积物，项目1），以及提高估计人类接触的能力， 确定新的目标污染物将有助于生物医学研究的能力（例如，本MIT-SRP项目3-5） 确定这些化学品对健康的最终影响。研究人员将参与公众，特别是 在神秘河流域和部落社区在北方缅因州，通过讨论来源 和大气污染物的命运，并将其引入新的传感器技术， 传感器，使“公民科学”。总体目标是开发和应用新的和 创新的测量和建模方法，用于有毒物质的政策相关评估。 1

Project 2: Project Summary/Abstract This project sets out a new methodology (Spatio-temporal Pollutant Tracking) to assess the pathways by which pollutants are transported and transformed in the atmosphere, Our hypothesis is that we can apply Spatio- temporal Pollutant Tracking to improve estimates of potential exposures, and ultimate public health impacts, of hazardous environmental pollutants. Such information is critical for accurate risk assessment and the development of effective remediation policies, but is currently limited by uncertainties in atmospheric chemistry and transport. The atmosphere serves as an efficient medium for both the efficient transformation of pollutants (forming products that may be of higher or lower toxicity of the parent compound) and the rapid transport of pollutants (leading to large heterogeneities in their temporal and spatial distributions). This high reactivity and high variability of atmospheric pollutants is often not considered in exposure assessments, a critical gap that leads to substantial uncertainties in the ultimate environmental/health impact of a given chemical. In order to reduce such uncertainties, we will develop a range of new state-of-the-art tools to better quantify this chemical processing and transport: 1) development and deployment of sensors to measure the concentrations of key atmospheric species; 2) laboratory studies of atmospheric transformations pollutants in the atmosphere; and 3) modeling of contaminant chemistry and transport in order to predict pollutant concentrations and fate. These three approaches are highly complementary, with outputs from each informing the other two. Central to this project is the study of not only the chemistry and distributions of the originally- emitted compounds (“primary pollutants”), but also their multi-generation atmospheric transformation/degradation products (“secondary pollutants”), which in some cases may be more hazardous than the precursor compound. This project focuses initially on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), an important class of toxic compounds on which we have carried out preliminary studies, and which allow for the development of our methodology. Our methods will then be extended and applied to nitrosamines (e.g., N- Nitrosodimethylamine, NDMA) and similar compounds, and ultimately to other compounds of interest. The improved characterization of atmospheric levels of these species will inform studies in other environmental domains (e.g., water and sediments, Project 1), and the improved ability to estimate human exposures and identify new target pollutants will aid the ability of biomedical studies (e.g., Projects 3-5 of this MIT-SRP) to determine the ultimate health impact of such chemicals. Researchers will engage the public, specifically communities in the Mystic River Watershed and tribal communities in northern Maine, by discussing sources and fates of atmospheric pollutants, and introducing them to novel sensor techniques with cellphone-enabled sensors, enabling “citizen science”. The overarching goal is the development and application of new and innovative measurement and modeling approaches for the policy-relevant assessment of toxic substances. 1