Advertisement
Published in:
2021 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Air Pollution Monitoring and Sustainability
Authors : Andrew Knox, Greg J. Evans, Colin J. Lee, Jeffrey R. Brook
Published in: Air Pollution Sources, Statistics and Health Effects
Publisher: Springer US
Excerpt
Acid deposition
Settling on land or water of acidic air pollutants or air pollutants capable of becoming acidic once settled.
Acid neutralizing capacity (ANC)
The ability of a medium (e.g., soil) to neutralize acidic pH, generally indicated by concentration of base cations.
Adaptive capacity
The capacity to adjust to new circumstances such that successful functioning can continue.
Aerodynamic diameter
The diameter of a spherical particle of unit density with a terminal velocity equal to the particle being considered.
Aerosol
Liquid- or solid-phase particles suspended in a gas.
Aerosol optical depth
Total extinction of light due to scattering and absorption by particles suspended in air between the point considered, the light’s origin, and the point of observation.
Air pollution monitoring
The use of scientific instruments and methods to assess the concentrations or rates of emission of air pollution in various environments.
Air pollution policy
Legal guidelines governing allowable emissions of pollutants to air, allowable concentrations of pollutants in air, and air quality remediation efforts.
Air quality monitoring
Observation of features of air that relate to the air’s quality over some time period. Said features include concentrations of pollutants.
Air quality
The degree to which air is an ideal supporter of life.
Background level
The concentration of a substance or pollutant that remains regardless of short-term, local changes in emissions patterns. Background concentrations are not static, but changes in background concentration happen over the relatively long term.
Best available technology (BAT)
A term relating to emissions standards set based on the ability of existing pollution abatement technology to mitigate the release of pollutants.
Biogenic
Produced by biological organisms or systems.
Biosphere
All life and ecosystems on Earth.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
A class of chlorine or fluorine containing organic compounds.
Climate change
A long-term change in regional and global meteorological mean state or the variability of that mean state.
Command and control
A strategy for limiting emissions by assigning specific emissions maximums to pollution sources or otherwise imposing pollution limiting rules and enforcing those rules.
Concentration-response functions (CRFs)
The mathematical relationships between the environmental concentration of a pollutant and an effect of the pollutant. Effects, or responses, could include health effects such as premature mortality.
Consolidated sustainability metrics
Summative statistics that are a function of a number of data on different species of pollutants and atmospheric conditions. Consolidated metrics are based on a prior judgment of the relative importance of all the data in their calculation. They are designed to give an overall picture and convey a great deal of information in a single number or index.
Critical load
The maximum amount of pollution an ecosystem can tolerate without suffering significant harmful effects, as far as can be understood given the present understanding.
Critical natural capital
Natural capital that cannot be lost without irreparable terminal damage to ecosystems.
Ecosystem
A system supporting life, including living and nonliving components and the interactions between its components.
Enforcement
Action taken or penalties imposed to correct situations in which emissions or concentrations of pollutants are above the legal limit.
Exposure
A time-integrated concentration metric reflecting the potential for intake of pollutants.
Greenhouse gas
Gas which, when in the atmosphere, induces a climate forcing via its ability to absorb light and convert it to thermal energy.
Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)
Individual or families of compounds that can potentially induce adverse health impacts, including but not limited to cancer, reproductive effects, or adverse environmental effects.
Holism
The view that systems cannot be understood in exclusion of other systems but must be understood in relation to the larger whole that affects all parts within itself.
Mortality
A statistical measure quantifying the number or fraction of deaths among populations.
Multipollutant monitoring
Monitoring with attention to the effects of pollution arising from the interaction of different species of pollutants.
Natural capital
The natural systems that produce goods such as clean air and provide services such as life support to the biosphere.
Ozone layer
A lower stratospheric region of more concentrated ozone, which absorbs much of the ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
Particulate matter
Solid or liquid particles suspended in air. PM is not a term that distinguishes particles by chemical species, and individual PM particles can contain a variety of species. Particulate Matter is often written as PM
10 or PM
2.5 with the number in subscript denoting the maximum aerodynamic diameter in micrometers of the particles being described. The subscripts (e.g., “2.5”) indicate that the PM considered is less than the subscript’s value in micrometers (μm). Particles smaller than about 10 μm are generally considered inhalable with smaller particles reaching deeper into the lung.
Pedestrian-oriented development
Construction or reconstruction of the urban form designed to facilitate walking as a primary means of personal transportation.
Point sources
Localized emitters of large amounts of pollution.
Population exposure
A statistic accounting for a population’s distribution throughout the area it inhabits, the pollution concentration distribution over that area, and the changes in those distributions over time to represent the macro-level (population-level) exposure of the population to a pollutant or set of pollutants.
Primary pollutants
Pollutants released from a source directly into the environment in the given form.
Primary standards
US EPA Air pollution standards set to protect public health.
Radiative balance
The net radiation to or from an object or system accounting for total incoming and outgoing radiation. A positive radiative balance will lead to the warming of the system considered, while a negative radiative balance will lead to cooling, assuming no non-radiative energy flows are at work.
Resilience
The ability of a system to renew and reorganize itself after a shock or major socio-ecological shift.
Risk-based policy
Policy based on the quantification and understanding of the probabilities of damages incurred. In risk-based policy, allowable pollutant concentrations are set with the knowledge and acceptance of the damage likely to be realized.
Secondary pollutants
Pollutants not released directly from sources but formed in the environment via chemical reactions among primary pollutants facilitated by atmospheric conditions such as moisture, temperature, and sunlight.
Secondary standards
US EPA Air pollution standards set to mitigate regional environmental problems.
Socio-ecological justice
Fairness concerning both the social realm (e.g., fairness among social classes) and the ecological realm (e.g., distribution schemes, including ecosystems as stakeholders), and the interaction between the two realms.
Source apportionment
Attributing the pollutants in a region or at a receptor site to their sources, for example, quantification of the portion of ambient NO
x originating from the transportation sector versus the industrial sector.
Target load
The pollution burden aimed for in policy. The load deemed achievable once “other factors (such as ethics, scientific uncertainties, and social and economic effects) are balanced with environmental considerations.” [
1]
Transit-oriented development
Construction or reconstruction of the urban form designed to facilitate use of public transportation vehicles as a primary means of medium to long-distance personal transportation.
Troposphere
The layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface, where human exposure to air pollutants occurs.
Urban form
The physical shape and design of cities, their structures, and their infrastructure.