Priyanka deSouza , Benjamin Crawford , John L. Durant , Neelakshi Hudda , Peter Ibsen , Christian L'Orange , Jose Jimenez , Brady Graeber , Brendan Cicione , Ruth Mekonnen , Saadhana Purushothama , Ralph Kahn , Patrick L. Kinney , John Volckens
{"title":"High-resolution multi-pollutant mapping in Denver, Colorado","authors":"Priyanka deSouza , Benjamin Crawford , John L. Durant , Neelakshi Hudda , Peter Ibsen , Christian L'Orange , Jose Jimenez , Brady Graeber , Brendan Cicione , Ruth Mekonnen , Saadhana Purushothama , Ralph Kahn , Patrick L. Kinney , John Volckens","doi":"10.1016/j.aeaoa.2025.100364","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Characterizing traffic-related air pollutants (TRAPs), which significantly impact health, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) can be challenging in urban environments. Mobile monitoring has the potential to capture the spatial distribution of these pollutants. We present results from a campaign using the Denver Mobile Monitoring Laboratory (DMML) in the summer of 2023 when we measured ultrafine particles (UFPs), black carbon (BC), ozone (O<sub>3</sub>), methane (CH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>,</sub> and carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) concentrations in Denver, CO. Despite our campaign being brief, we obtained several interesting results. We observed elevated UFP and BC concentrations on major roads. In contrast, O<sub>3</sub> concentrations were higher on neighborhood streets and roads and in the industrial neighborhood of Commerce City. We consistently observed elevated CH<sub>4</sub> concentrations (>2.5 ppm) on highway I-70, suggesting the presence of a previously unknown major source of CH<sub>4</sub>. The CH<sub>4</sub> concentrations measured in our campaign did not align with those from an overlapping aerial campaign, suggesting that mobile monitoring is crucial to capture important, potentially intermittent CH<sub>4</sub> hotspots in cities. We evaluated if trees mitigated pollution concentrations, as planting trees is a key policy initiative of the city of Denver. We observed significant negative associations between tree canopy coverage and UFPs, BC, and CH<sub>4</sub>, and a positive association with O<sub>3</sub> when using linear mixed-effects regression models. Our work highlights the importance of investigating the role of tree canopy coverage to mitigate TRAPs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37150,"journal":{"name":"Atmospheric Environment: X","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 100364"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Atmospheric Environment: X","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590162125000541","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Characterizing traffic-related air pollutants (TRAPs), which significantly impact health, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) can be challenging in urban environments. Mobile monitoring has the potential to capture the spatial distribution of these pollutants. We present results from a campaign using the Denver Mobile Monitoring Laboratory (DMML) in the summer of 2023 when we measured ultrafine particles (UFPs), black carbon (BC), ozone (O3), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in Denver, CO. Despite our campaign being brief, we obtained several interesting results. We observed elevated UFP and BC concentrations on major roads. In contrast, O3 concentrations were higher on neighborhood streets and roads and in the industrial neighborhood of Commerce City. We consistently observed elevated CH4 concentrations (>2.5 ppm) on highway I-70, suggesting the presence of a previously unknown major source of CH4. The CH4 concentrations measured in our campaign did not align with those from an overlapping aerial campaign, suggesting that mobile monitoring is crucial to capture important, potentially intermittent CH4 hotspots in cities. We evaluated if trees mitigated pollution concentrations, as planting trees is a key policy initiative of the city of Denver. We observed significant negative associations between tree canopy coverage and UFPs, BC, and CH4, and a positive association with O3 when using linear mixed-effects regression models. Our work highlights the importance of investigating the role of tree canopy coverage to mitigate TRAPs.