TITLE:
Near-Field Variability of Residential Woodsmoke Concentrations
AUTHORS:
Tracy L. Thatcher, Thomas W. Kirchstetter, Stella H. Tan, Christopher J. Malejan, Courtney E. Ward
KEYWORDS:
Spatial Variability, Temporal Variability, Woodsmoke, Black Carbon (BC)
JOURNAL NAME:
Atmospheric and Climate Sciences,
Vol.4 No.4,
September
25,
2014
ABSTRACT: In many regions, wood
combustion is a significant source of wintertime aerosols. However, since wood
combustion sources are interspersed within neighborhoods, near-field
concentration variability has the potential to cause large variations in the
exposure levels between residents over a relatively small area. This field
study compared filter samples and aethalometer measurements of black carbon
concentration within a 1 km2 study region with no significant
aerosol sources except wood combustion. Sampling occurred on 15 nights over two
winter seasons in a small California coastal town. Even over the small
distances in the study area, large spatial and temporal variations were
observed. Measured black carbon concentrations varied by as much as a factor of
10 over a 12-hour night-time period. The spatial variability was non-random,
with the highest location in the study area experiencing 4 times the average
concentration within the neighborhood, when averaged over all sample periods.
The results of this study indicate that within neighborhoods with residential
wood combustion sources using an average concentration for a region to predict
exposure may significantly undervalue the exposure of some residents and
overvalue the exposure for others.