Anyachebelu Ayina, Cabral Alex, Abdin Marah I, Choudhury Pallavi, Daepp Madeleine I G
Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London, WC1E 7HB, UK.
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02134, USA.
Sci Rep. 2023 Aug 8;13(1):12862. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-38392-3.
Short-term increases in air pollution levels are linked to large adverse effects on health and productivity. However, existing regulatory monitoring systems lack the spatial or temporal resolution needed to capture localized events. This study uses a dense network of over 100 sensors, deployed across the city of Chicago, Illinois, to capture the spread of smoke from short-term structural fire events. Examining all large structural fires that occurred in the city over a year (N = 21), we characterize differences in PM[Formula: see text] concentrations downwind versus upwind of the fires. On average, we observed increases of up to 10.7 [Formula: see text]g/m[Formula: see text] (95% CI 5.7-15.7) for sensors within 2 km and up to 7.7 [Formula: see text]g/m[Formula: see text] (95% CI 3.4-12.0) for sensors 2-5 km downwind of fires. Statistically significant elevated concentrations were evident as far as 5 km downwind of the location of the fire and persisted over approximately 2 h on average. This work shows how low-cost sensors can provide insight on local and short-term pollution events, enabling regulators to provide timely warnings to vulnerable populations.
空气污染水平的短期上升与对健康和生产力的重大不利影响相关。然而，现有的监管监测系统缺乏捕捉局部事件所需的空间或时间分辨率。本研究使用了一个由100多个传感器组成的密集网络，部署在伊利诺伊州芝加哥市，以捕捉短期建筑火灾事件产生的烟雾扩散情况。通过检查该城市一年内发生的所有大型建筑火灾（N = 21），我们描述了火灾下风处与上风处细颗粒物（PM₂.₅）浓度的差异。平均而言，我们观察到，对于距离火灾2公里以内的传感器，PM₂.₅浓度平均增加高达10.7微克/立方米（95%置信区间为5.7 - 15.7），对于火灾下风处2 - 5公里的传感器，浓度平均增加高达7.7微克/立方米（95%置信区间为3.4 - 12.0）。在火灾位置下风处5公里范围内，均可明显观察到具有统计学意义的浓度升高，且平均持续约2小时。这项工作展示了低成本传感器如何能够提供有关局部和短期污染事件的见解，使监管机构能够及时向弱势群体发出警告。
