Abstract
This study is attempting to identify and quantify trends over the past 20 years in measured air quality in the U.S. Rocky Mountain area, including the states of Colorado, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Long-term well-maintained air sampling sites in the area include those from the IMPROVE and CASTNET monitoring networks, which were intentionally located in remote areas. Analysis of the observations from the ten available sites in the region focuses on ozone, fine particulates, sulfates and nitrates. Statistical trend analysis methods have been applied to the CASTNET ozone sites, with the conclusion that there is no consistent trend found at a majority of the sites. At the Mesa Verde site, there is a significant upwards trend in ozone, as well as a downwards trend in sulfates, with the latter due to emission controls in that area. Preliminary analyses of monthly mean MDA8 ozone at collocated sites at Rocky Mountain NP have revealed biases in that are being investigated further.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the American Petroleum Institute, with Ms. Cathe Kalisz as program manager.
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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
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Hanna, S.R., Jaffe, D., Porter, P.S., Blewitt, D. (2011). Air Quality Trends in the U.S. Rocky Mountain Area. In: Steyn, D., Trini Castelli, S. (eds) Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXI. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1359-8_123
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1359-8_123
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