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Abstract
An ozone (O3) exposure assessment study was conducted in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the winter and summer of 1992. A new passive O3 sampler developed by Harvard was used to measure indoor, outdoor, and personal O3 concentrations. Measurements were taken weekly and daily during the winter and summer, respectively. Indoor samples were collected at a total of 50 homes and workplaces of study participants. Outdoor O3 concentrations were measured both at home sites using the passive sampler and at 20 ambient monitoring sites with continuous monitors. Personal O3 measurements were collected from 123 participants, who also completed detailed time-activity diaries. A total of 2,274 O3 samples were collected. In addition, weekly air exchange rates of homes were measured.
This study demonstrates the performance of our O3 sampler for exposure assessment. The data obtained are further used to examine the relationships between personal, indoor (home and workplace), and outdoor O3 concentrations, and to investigate outdoor and indoor spatial variations in O3 concentrations. Based on home outdoor and indoor, workplace, and ambient O3 concentrations measured at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) sites, the traditional microenvironmental model predicts 72% of the variability in measured personal exposures. An alternative personal O3 exposure model based on outdoor measurements and time-activity information is able to predict the mean personal exposures in a large population, with the highest R2 value of 0.41.