Cheng Wan-Li, Chen Yu-Song, Zhang Junfeng, Lyons T J, Pai Joy-Lynn, Chang Shiang-Hung
Dept of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan ROC.
Sci Total Environ. 2007 Sep 1;382(2-3):191-8. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.04.036. Epub 2007 May 30.
Air pollution indices are commonly used to indicate the level of severity of air pollution to the public. The Pollution Standards Index (PSI) was initially established in response to a dramatic increase in the number of people suffering respiratory irritation due to the deteriorating air quality. The PSI was subsequently revised and implemented by the USEPA in 1999, and became known as the Air Quality Index (AQI) that includes data relating to particle suspension, PM2.5, and a selective options of either 8-hour or 1-hour ozone concentration during increased O3 periods. Yet, the costs of launching a network of PM2.5 monitoring stations are prohibitively high for many countries to implement the AQI from the PSI system in the foreseeable future. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to discuss the optimal method of assessing air quality using the latest developed Revised AQI (RAQI), a system that serves as an alternative to the PSI and AQI systems. The feasibility, effectiveness, and the differences between RAQI, AQI, and PSI in their applications to several air pollution conditions are also studied in this research. The results show that southern Taiwan's suspended particulates have significantly greater impact on PM2.5/PM10 ratios than in central and northern metropolitan areas, and that the ratios are higher in Taiwan as a whole compared to many other countries. We also found that the RAQI shows more significant results compared to the PSI and AQI as it has a wider coverage of the range of pollutant concentration levels.
空气污染指数通常用于向公众表明空气污染的严重程度。污染标准指数（PSI）最初是为应对空气质量恶化导致呼吸道受刺激的人数急剧增加而设立的。PSI随后于1999年由美国环境保护局修订并实施，并成为空气质量指数（AQI），其中包括与颗粒物悬浮、PM2.5以及臭氧浓度增加期间8小时或1小时臭氧浓度的选择性数据。然而，对于许多国家来说，在可预见的未来建立PM2.5监测站网络的成本过高，无法从PSI系统实施AQI。因此，本研究的目的是讨论使用最新开发的修订后的AQI（RAQI）评估空气质量的最佳方法，RAQI是一种替代PSI和AQI系统的系统。本研究还探讨了RAQI、AQI和PSI在几种空气污染状况应用中的可行性、有效性及差异。结果表明，台湾南部的悬浮颗粒物对PM2.5/PM10比值的影响比中部和北部大都市地区大得多，而且与许多其他国家相比，台湾整体的该比值更高。我们还发现，与PSI和AQI相比，RAQI显示出更显著的结果，因为它对污染物浓度水平范围的覆盖更广。
