EAPSI: Developing high spatial resolution models of pollution for cities based on traffic volume, land use classes, and vegetation

Rao Meenakshi, Portland OR

Investigators

Abstract

Cities are the centers of human habitation and have become the centers of air pollution due to high levels of carbon dioxide emissions from human activity. Air pollution varies widely within a city, and therefore so does the health impact of these pollutants. Models have been developed to predict air pollutant levels using proxies for sources and sinks of air pollution, such as traffic volume, land use classes, and vegetation. These models require time, expense, and effort to develop, and are city-specific- not transferable from one city to another. In collaboration with Professor Shan Yin, expert in air pollution in China, at the Shanghai Jiaotong University, this research will develop air pollution models that will enable transfer of such models between cities. This will make it easier for other cities to develop high spatial resolution models of their air pollution allowing cities to better assess the health impact of air pollution; design more effective air pollution mitigation policies; and create healthier cities. This project builds on existing multi-year surface measurements of NO2 (an urban air pollutant and a marker for anthropogenic air pollution) in Portland, Oregon and Shanghai, China to develop land use regression (LUR) models for NO2 at the intra-urban (~250m) scale. The LUR models will be used to (i) derive heuristics that will potentially enable the transfer of LUR models between cities; (ii) investigate the role of the urban forest in mitigating air pollution; and (iii) constrain satellite observations of NO2 for Shanghai from 13 x 24 km to the ~250m scale as input for the chemical transport model WRF-Chem. Comparisons between these models will allow the creation of high spatial resolution models that can be used in other cities affected by pollution. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.