Modeling the impact of airport activities on local scale air quality
C. Efstathiou, A. Vemuri, S-W. Wang, P.G. Georgopoulos; Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Institute
Airport operations have been identified as significant sources of primary criteria pollutants, secondary photochemical air pollutants and hazardous air pollutants in both gas and particulate phases. However, due to unrecorded heavy truck and other ground support equipment activity at airports, emissions from aviation sources have one of the largest uncertainties in National Inventories. The current study aims at quantifying the impact of airports on the local scale air quality and potential human exposures, through a case study focused on Teterboro airport, a mid-sized airport located in the middle of urban sprawl in northern New Jersey. The airport serves the general aviation requirements of New Jersey and New York metropolitan areas and has restricted scheduled flight operations. BTEX species and PM2.5 are the main pollutants considered in this study.
Teterboro airport emissions for the year 2006 are estimated using detailed information on landing and take-off operations, ground support equipment operations and other stationary sources in the airport vicinity. Emissions and Dispersion Modeling System (EDMS) is used to generate emissions data and air quality based on dispersion modeling. Emissions from other sources in the northern New Jersey area are obtained from the USEPA's National Emissions Inventory 2002 and modeled using the regulatory local scale atmospheric dispersion model (AERMOD). Modeling results are compared against the monitored air quality information obtained New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). Spatial and temporal variability in air quality trends are assessed in order to quantify short-term and long-term effects of the airport on the neighborhood air quality. Potential non-occupational human exposure to aviation emissions can be characterized for the pollutants considered in the study.
This work was partially funded by USEPA through the Center for Exposure and Risk Modeling (Cooperative Agreement No. CR-83162501) and by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Viewpoints expressed here are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USEPA or its contractors.