#00-60
8/24/00
or
Patrick Shaughnessy, (512) 239-5000, TNRCC
Houston, TX - A national team of over
150 researchers has begun one of the most comprehensive air quality
studies ever conducted in the U.S. Over six weeks, scientists
at three U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories, in collaboration
with researchers from more than 40 public, private, and academic
institutions, will study air pollution in the Houston region and
the eastern half of Texas.
Their aim is to better understand the complex interactions among
various sources of pollution, meteorology, and other variables
that contribute to ozone production and fine-particle air pollution.
The ultimate goal is to identify cost-effective, efficient ways
to control these pollutants to protect public health and the environment.
"If you understand a lot about the sources of pollution and
the processes that are involved, you can make intelligent decisions
about how to deal with the problem," says Peter Daum, one
of the lead investigators on the study. Daum is a chemist at the
DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory.
During the Texas 2000 Air Quality Study, six research aircraft,
including the DOE Grumman Gulfstream 1, will make daily sampling
flights: some at fixed altitude approximately 2,500 feet above
the surface, and some ranging from 300 feet to 10,000 feet to
study the vertical distribution of pollutants and their precursors.
Sixty ground-based air-quality and meteorological monitoring stations,
including one at the top of a Houston skyscraper, will provide
additional data on ozone, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen
oxides, fine particles, and precursor chemicals. The scientists
will combine these data to study how the chemicals mix, move,
and react in the atmosphere under a variety of meteorological
conditions. Ozone, one of the pollutants under study, is formed
from reactions between sunlight and nitrogen oxides and/or hydrocarbons,
such as those emitted from power plants and automobiles.
The traditional approach to controlling this pollutant has been
to limit emissions of hydrocarbons. Daum points out, however,
that despite the fact that lower hydrocarbon emissions have improved
air quality in many areas over the past 30 years, "there
are still large areas of the country that are out of compliance
with national ozone standards." A more detailed understanding
of all the variables that contribute to ozone and fine-particle
pollution could lead to more effective control measures to improve
air quality in the Houston region and the rest of southeastern
Texas, and provide fundamental scientific knowledge that can be
applied to similar problems in other areas of the country. August
and September, the period of the study, are the months when Houston
and the rest of southeastern Texas experience the worst air-quality
problems due to the presence of hot, stagnant air. This region
was chosen as the study site in part because of the severity of
the pollution problem there and also because the region's unique
chemical and meteorological features present interesting scientific
questions. These questions need to be addressed to both improve
the ability to assess the effects of emissions on air quality,
and make sound decisions if and when emission controls become
necessary. The scientists expect to be analyzing the data for
several years, with some preliminary results being reported in
2001.
In addition to Brookhaven scientists, researchers from DOE's Argonne
National Laboratory in Illinois and Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory in Washington state will participate. Other collaborators
include the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC),
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
DOE is participating in the study as part of its Atmospheric Chemistry
Program, whose objective is to provide advanced information on
the atmospheric environment, which is required for long-range
energy planning. For more information on the study, go to: http://www.utexas.edu/research/ceer/texaqs/
The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory
creates and operates major facilities available to university,
industrial and government personnel for basic and applied research
in the physical, biomedical and environmental sciences and in
selected energy technologies. The Laboratory is operated by Brookhaven
Science Associates, a not-for-profit research management company,
under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.
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Note to local editors: Peter Daum lives
in Shoreham, New York.
