What are the main findings or arguments presented in the article or report?
1. The first focus of this article was justifying the design and implementation of the sensors for the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) at 150 sites throughout the five boroughs in New York City. It started with a discussion of which air pollutants were to be measured, PM2.5, Black Carbon, Nitrogen Oxides, Ozone, and Sulfur Dioxides. Then, it discussed the reasoning behind 150 sensors as well as the specific locations of each sensor, 30 of which were chosen “purposefully”. Finally, it described reference monitoring sites which would be continuously monitoring specific locations, one in each borough.
2. The second focus of this article was describing the reliability of this design based on the first year of data collected using this design for NYCCAS. It was determined that sample loss and instrument failure was minimal. It was also determined that only ozone had a single outlier and correlations for each different pollutant was strong for both reference and non-reference data sites.
3. The third focus of this article was describing and analyzing the preliminary data collection from the first year of implementation. As expected, the reference data was lower and less spread out than the non-reference locations. At street-sites, SO2 and NO were more variable than NO2, BC, O3, and PM2.5. Seasonal variation was also found.
Describe at least three ways that the argument is supported.
1. For the rationale behind the number of sensor sites, kriging variance vs number of locations was graphed and determined to be non-linear decay and stimulations based on kriging and nearest monitor models under different density scenarios were run with the best data point through both methods determined to be 150 locations.
2. Stratified random sampling and purposeful site selection based on a set of parameters ranging from population to distance from public parks helped determine the locations of the 150 sensor sites.
3. The data collected from these sites was compiled and graphed in order to compare the data to known data, to the reference data, and to each other.
What three (or more) quotes capture the message of the article or report?
1. “This paper describes the design and implementation of one of the largest urban air monitoring programs of its kind, providing seasonal monitoring of key combustion-related pollutants at 150 sites and year-round monitoring at five reference sites in the five boroughs of NYC.”
2. “Using existing regulatory monitoring data on PM2.5 in the NYC metro area, Ross and co-workers22 showed that spatial variation was associated with local traffic, population density and industrial land-use.”
3. “This limited spatial resolution is especially important because intraurban gradients in exposure to combustion pollutants can be greater than between-city differences and these gradients are associated with adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular and respiratory disease, mortality and the exacerbation of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”
This shows how it specifically relates to asthma, underneath all the math and analyses in the article lies the main purpose for studying this in general.
What were the methods, tools and/or data used to produce the claims or arguments made in the article or report?
Data was gathered from many different references in regards to determining the mathematical models used in order to validate the design of NYCCAS. For the second portion of the article, the data collected from these 150 sites on all the different pollutants as stated above was used in comparison to the reference data also collected at the same time through this study.
How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
Most of this report is focused on how and why NYCCAS is valid and will eventually lead to good data on air quality and pollution. However, it does discuss in the rationale, to a minor extent, the health concerns that can arise with high levels of air pollution. Equity issues are not discussed at all, in fact there seems to be careful consideration paid to not discussing them and sticking to the mathematical arguments.
Can you learn anything from the article or report’s bibliography that tells us something about how the article or report was produced?
Most of the sources are research papers, and there is a lot of sources seemingly from a wide variety of authors. The most prevalent name is the Environmental Protection Agency and it does seem that a large percentage of sources are from the EPA.
Does the article provide information or perspective on any of the thematics already identified as important for the 6Cities project?
It provides some interesting insight into how studies are being done in New York City from the design to implementation to analysis.
Matte T, Ross Z, Kheirbek I, et al. 2013. Monitoring intraurban spatial patterns of multiple combustion air pollutants in New York City: Design and Implementation. J Exposure and Environmental Epidemiology. doi:10.1038/jes.2012.126
To access the full article, this website was used:
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/234142067_Monitoring_intraurban_spatial_patterns_of_multiple_combustion_air_pollutants_in_New_York_City_Design_and_implementation
Thomas D. Matte: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Assistant Commissioner, Environmental Surveillance and Policy 1. __Ambient Fine Particulate Matter, Nitrogen Dioxide, and Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy in New York City__
2. __The Public Health Benefits of Reducing Fine Particulate Matter through Conversion to Cleaner Heating Fuels in New York City__
3. __Spatial Variation in Environmental Noise and Air Pollution in New York City__
4. __PM2.5 and ozone health impacts and disparities in New York City: Sensitivity to spatial and temporal resolution__
Zev Ross: President of Zev Ross Spatial Analysis which focuses on spatial and environmental statistics. He has a background in creating air pollution exposure assessment models for the California Department of Health Services (DHS).
1. Fine particulate matter constituents associated with cardiovascular hospitalizations and mortality in New York City
2. Traffic-related exposures, airway function, inflammation, and respiratory symptoms in children
3. Noise, air pollutants and traffic: continuous measurement and correlation at a high-traffic location in New York City
4. Intra-urban spatial variability in wintertime street-level concentrations of multiple combustion-related air pollutants: the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS)
Iyad Kheirbek: Air Quality Program Manager at New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
1. __Differences in magnitude and spatial distribution of urban forest pollution deposition rates, air pollution emissions, and ambient neighborhood air quality in New York City__
It is interesting to note that all three of these authors collaborated on the majority of the publications listed above.
1. The first focus of this article was justifying the design and implementation of the sensors for the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) at 150 sites throughout the five boroughs in New York City. It started with a discussion of which air pollutants were to be measured, PM2.5, Black Carbon, Nitrogen Oxides, Ozone, and Sulfur Dioxides. Then, it discussed the reasoning behind 150 sensors as well as the specific locations of each sensor, 30 of which were chosen “purposefully”. Finally, it described reference monitoring sites which would be continuously monitoring specific locations, one in each borough.
2. The second focus of this article was describing the reliability of this design based on the first year of data collected using this design for NYCCAS. It was determined that sample loss and instrument failure was minimal. It was also determined that only ozone had a single outlier and correlations for each different pollutant was strong for both reference and non-reference data sites.
3. The third focus of this article was describing and analyzing the preliminary data collection from the first year of implementation. As expected, the reference data was lower and less spread out than the non-reference locations. At street-sites, SO2 and NO were more variable than NO2, BC, O3, and PM2.5. Seasonal variation was also found.
1. For the rationale behind the number of sensor sites, kriging variance vs number of locations was graphed and determined to be non-linear decay and stimulations based on kriging and nearest monitor models under different density scenarios were run with the best data point through both methods determined to be 150 locations.
2. Stratified random sampling and purposeful site selection based on a set of parameters ranging from population to distance from public parks helped determine the locations of the 150 sensor sites.
3. The data collected from these sites was compiled and graphed in order to compare the data to known data, to the reference data, and to each other.
1. “This paper describes the design and implementation of one of the largest urban air monitoring programs of its kind, providing seasonal monitoring of key combustion-related pollutants at 150 sites and year-round monitoring at five reference sites in the five boroughs of NYC.”
2. “Using existing regulatory monitoring data on PM2.5 in the NYC metro area, Ross and co-workers22 showed that spatial variation was associated with local traffic, population density and industrial land-use.”
3. “This limited spatial resolution is especially important because intraurban gradients in exposure to combustion pollutants can be greater than between-city differences and these gradients are associated with adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular and respiratory disease, mortality and the exacerbation of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”
This shows how it specifically relates to asthma, underneath all the math and analyses in the article lies the main purpose for studying this in general.
Data was gathered from many different references in regards to determining the mathematical models used in order to validate the design of NYCCAS. For the second portion of the article, the data collected from these 150 sites on all the different pollutants as stated above was used in comparison to the reference data also collected at the same time through this study.
Most of this report is focused on how and why NYCCAS is valid and will eventually lead to good data on air quality and pollution. However, it does discuss in the rationale, to a minor extent, the health concerns that can arise with high levels of air pollution. Equity issues are not discussed at all, in fact there seems to be careful consideration paid to not discussing them and sticking to the mathematical arguments.
According to Research Gate, this article has been referenced 19 times. It appears that many of the times it was referenced, one or more of the authors are the same as the ones who wrote this article. A few of interest are listed below without any regard to the authors.
1. __Urban air quality simulation in a high-rise building area using a CFD model coupled with mesoscale meteorological and chemistry-transport models__
2. __Ambient Fine Particulate Matter, Nitrogen Dioxide, and Term Birth Weight in New York, New York__
3. __Air Quality Modeling in Support of the Near-Road Exposures and Effects of Urban Air Pollutants Study (NEXUS)__
Most of the sources are research papers, and there is a lot of sources seemingly from a wide variety of authors. The most prevalent name is the Environmental Protection Agency and it does seem that a large percentage of sources are from the EPA.
It provides some interesting insight into how studies are being done in New York City from the design to implementation to analysis.