Twenty Four-Hour PC-BOSS Air-Monitoring Results from the NETL Fine-Particulate Sampling Site in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: An Annual Perspective

Figures & data

FIG. 1 Schematic of the multichannel PC-BOSS sampler used for the study.

FIG. 2 Monthly average 24 h daily PM_2.5 concentrations in μg/m³ from November 1999 through December 2000.

FIG. 3 Comparison of 24 h PC-BOSS (PM_2.5), TEOM monitor, and FRM PM measurements and PC-BOSS (NH₄)₂SO₄, NVOM, and SVOM concentrations from May through December 2000.

TABLE 1 Summary of concentrations of fine particulate composition from May 2000 through December 2000. Concentrations are in μg m⁻³. Number of days in each month for which samples were available for analysis are shown in parentheses

Month, 2000	Concentration	PM2.5	(NH4)2SO4	NVOM	SVOM	EC	RetainedNH4NO3	Lost NH4NO3	Crustal
May (21)	Average	19.2	8.3	7.1	1.8	0.6	0.4	0.5	0.52
	Maximum	38.4	18.4	15.5	6.9	1.0	0.8	2.1	0.89
	Minimum	6.6	1.8	2.9	0.6	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.25
June (27)	Average	18.4	6.5	6.1	4.0	0.6	0.3	0.3	0.63
	Maximum	51.1	22.8	17.7	13.6	2.7	0.8	1.0	0.89
	Minimum	5.1	1.7	1.1	0.8	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.34
July (22)	Average	18.8	8.7	6.0	1.8	1.4	0.3	0.4	0.19
	Maximum	37.4	24.8	11.2	6.5	2.9	0.9	1.1	0.20
	Minimum	8.6	3.0	2.4	0.4	0.5	0.1	0.1	0.17
August (29)	Average	23.5	10.5	5.8	5.3	1.0	0.1	0.4	0.37
	Maximum	43.4	29.3	10.7	12.4	4.6	0.4	1.0	1.25
	Minimum	8.6	2.1	1.2	2.2	0.4	0.0	0.1	0.08
September (24)	Average	13.7	6.0	3.9	2.5	0.6	0.2	0.3	0.18
	Maximum	33.7	19.8	8.7	6.4	1.9	1.1	0.7	0.26
	Minimum	5.1	1.1	1.6	0.9	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.10
October (23)	Average	19.5	7.6	6.9	2.8	0.5	1.2	0.3	0.23
	Maximum	38.7	15.1	16.6	5.0	0.9	4.4	0.7	0.47
	Minimum	3.6	0.7	0.0	0.8	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.01
November (29)	Average	17.5	4.6	6.3	3.2	0.5	2.1	0.3	0.50
	Maximum	43.5	12.3	23.6	5.7	1.1	6.1	1.3	0.61
	Minimum	7.4	1.2	1.3	1.3	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.39
December (9)	Average	20.9	5.1	8.3	3.5	0.8	2.7	0.3	0.21
	Maximum	40.1	7.1	24.5	4.7	2.4	5.1	0.6	0.35
	Minimum	14.0	2.6	3.0	1.9	0.1	1.4	0.1	0.10

FIG. 4 Comparison of 24 h PM_2.5 concentrations from the PC-BOSS, TEOM monitor, and the FRM sampler.

TABLE 2 Intersampler statistical summary of PM_2.5 concentrations for the period May 2000 through September 2000. Linear regression R², slopes, and intercepts are given for both calculated ^a and a zero intercept ^b

Comparison (X and Y)	Data points, N	R^2 (Slop)	Intercept	Average (X), μg/m^3	Average (Y), μg/m^3	Bias, μg/m^3	Probability (2-tailed 2-sample t-test at 95% level)
FRM versus TEOM	101	0.92 ^a , 0.92 ^b (0.89 ± 0.03) ^a (0.85 ± 0.01) ^b	−0.6 ^a 0.0 ^b	16.4	13.9	2.5	0.015
Constructed PC-BOSS nonvolatile mass versus FRM	101	0.71 ^a , 0.65 ^b (0.79 ± 0.05) ^a (1.01 ± 0.02) ^b	4.1 ^a 0.0 ^b	15.4	16.4	−1.0	0.36
Constructed PC-BOSS PM2.5 versus FRM	101	0.75 ^a , 0.73 ^b (0.73 ± 0.04) ^a (0.84 ± 0.02) ^b	2.4 ^a 0.0 ^b	19.1	16.4	2.7	0.019
Constructed PC-BOSS nonvolatile mass versus TEOM	101	0.78 ^a , 0.76 ^b (0.77 ± 0.04) ^a (0.87 ± 0.02) ^b	2.1 ^a 0.0 ^b	15.4	13.9	1.5	0.15
Constructed PC-BOSS PM2.5 versus TEOM	101	0.77 ^a , 0.77 ^b (0.69 ± 0.04) ^a (0.72 ± 0.01) ^b	0.7 ^a 0.0 ^b	19.1	13.9	5.2	0.0000055

TABLE 3 Relationship between direction of transport of pollutants to the NETL site and fine-particulate concentrations (μg/m³) from May 2000 through September 2000

Days	Trajectory	24 h PC-BOSS Nonvolatile constructed PM2.5	Ammonium sulfate	Nonvolatile organic compounds	SVOM
May: 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 22, 26, 27, 31 June: 1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 25 July: 2, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 August: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 26 September: 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, 22, 30	Southwest	Overall: average = 23.5, Episodes: 33.6	Overall: average = 11.7, Episodes: 16.6	Overall: average = 7.8, Episodes: 11.2	Overall: average = 4.2, Episodes: 3.9
May: 13, 20, 21, 23 June: 21, 26, 27 July: 13, 17 August: 9, 21, 22, 23 September: 14, 23	West	Overall: average = 19.4, Episodes: 30.5	Overall: average = 9.6, Episode: 16.1	Overall: average = 5.2, Episode: 6.5	Overall: average = 3.3, Episode: 3.8
May: 14, 15, 19, 24, 25 June: 2, 6, 18, 19, 22 July: 14, 18, 19, 21, 22 August: 7, 10, 18, 19 September: 12, 15, 26, 27	Northwest	Overall: average = 13.5	Overall: average = 5.4	Overall: average = 4.9	Overall: average = 2.4
July: 1 September: 29	South	Overall: average = 11.5	Overall: average = 2.8	Overall: average = 4.6	Overall: average = 3.5
May: 28 August: 31 September: 1, 28	Southeast	Overall: average = 15.1	Overall: average = 6.8	Overall: average = 3.7	Overall: average = 3.7
May: 29 June: 24 July: 10, 31 August: 4, 11, 12, 13 September: 4, 5, 25	Northeast	Overall: average = 14.8	Overall: average = 6.0	Overall: average = 4.6	Overall: average = 3.6
July: 23, 24, 25 August: 27, 28, 29, 30 September: 16	East	Overall: average = 17.2	Overall: average = 9.0	Overall: average = 5.2	Overall: average = 2.2
June: 28 August: 24 September: 2, 17, 24, 28	North	Overall: average = 14.4 Episode: 28.9	Overall: average = 5.5 Episode: 12.7	Overall: average = 4.4 Episode: 8.5	Overall: average = 3.6 Episode: 6.9
Average, maximum, and minimum concentrations are given in parentheses. Days labeled in bold are days for which episodes occurred; 24 h PC-BOSS concentrations during episodes are also given for comparison.