Measuring particulate matter emissions from an industrial sand mine using ARTEMIS - a portable instrument suite
Abstract
Particulate matter (PM) presents a wide range of health concerns. One source of PM in Wisconsin is industrial sand mining. Due to the large deposits of silica in Wisconsin, it is the leading supplier of industrial sand in the United States. The impacts on air quality from emissions of PM from sand mine operations are not well studied or understood. To enhance our understanding of this issue, we used the ARTEMIS (Atmospheric Research Trailer for Environmental Monitoring and Interactive Scienc e) platform developed in the Donohoue Lab. ARTEMIS is the ideal platform to monitor the site because of its ability to go off-road, thus accessing a site that would be inaccessible by other platforms. Additionally, ARTEMIS provides a rapidly deployable platform that can address community air quality concerns, as in the case of exposure to PM from sand mining operations. In this study, w e placed ARTEMIS near the fence line of a local sand quarry in Eastern W isconsin to conduct a multiyear study of PM, O 3 , NOx, and meteorological parameters . We selected this site as it is isolated from other quarries limiting cross-contamination , and ensuring that we measure emissions from a single mine and obtain a more accurate background measurement. D ata were collected during the summer and fall of 2017 and then again in 2019 . Between 2017 and 2019, t he quarry expanded in size and scale of operation. Using this dataset, we ev aluated the impact of an industrial quarry operation on local air quality , specifically investigating how growth and changes quarry operations affected PM emissions.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMED23G1116P
- Keywords:
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- 0810 Post-secondary education;
- EDUCATION;
- 0850 Geoscience education research;
- EDUCATION;
- 0855 Diversity;
- EDUCATION