Source and Health Implication of Diurnal Atmospheric PM Mass and Number Concentrations

Exposure to atmospheric PM has been known to be associated with adverse health effects, decreased heart-rate variability, and respiratory and cardiopulmonary related morbidity and mortality. New evidence suggests that physical characteristics (mass, size, number, surface area, and morphology) of particles are strongly associated with mortality and morbidity through acute exposure. In particular, as reported in the literature, fine or ultrafine particles are more toxic than coarse particles on an equivalent mass basis while particles of less than 30 nm or greater than 2.5 um in diameter deposit more effectively (approximately 80 percent) in lung versus approximately 18 percent for particles in the range of 100 nm and 1 um. In addition, positive association has been observed between day to day variation in PM2.5 and hospital admissions, mortality and particle surface area, or particle number concentration and oxidative stress-induced DNA damage. This presentation shows the results of a study characterizing the physical properties of PM in El Paso, Texas. Diurnal PM mass concentration peaks previously observed at several other cities along the U.S.-Mexico border and elsewhere in the world were observed in El Paso. The hourly PM particle count varied from less than 10,000 particles/cm3 to greater than 80,000 particles/cm3 during the diurnal PM mass peaks. The total number of PM particles peaked in the morning and in the evening while the mode of the particle size changed from 20 nm to 50 nm, indicating different PM sources may be responsible for the mass and number concentrations and agglomeration of particles in the atmosphere during the day may possibly plays a role. A multivariate regression analysis was performed to correlate the PM mass and number concentrations to environmental variables. Real- time wind statistics were used in conjunction with traffic data at a nearby highway for identifying sources of the PM mass and number concentration peaks. Evaluation of the diurnal variation of PM physical properties and a recent study on PM mass and mortality implies that particle number may be a better environmental indicator for mortality than PM2.5 mass. This publication was made possible by grant number 1 S11 ES013339-01A1 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), NIH. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIEHS, NIH.