The Response of Natural and Anthropogenic Emissions in Houston to Hurricane Harvey: Impacts on Air Quality

Climate change is predicted to have an impact of the number and intensity of hurricanes and tropical storms which make landfall on major urban areas. Air quality measurements are often not part of the first response, which has limited our ability to understand the timescale, magnitude, spatial scale and breadth of impacts. This breadth of impact refers to understanding the response of anthropogenic systems and emissions to the disaster as well as the ecological response including short- and long-term changes in biogenic emissions. To better understand and characterize the impacts to anthropogenic and biogenic systems, monitoring and measurements are needed in the hours, days and weeks post storm. These efforts are often complicated by the nature of the disaster: for some large disasters, routine monitoring networks may have been impacted, and a mobile suite for gas and particle phase measurements may be necessary to assess both anthropogenic and biogenic emissions. Such a response case study was conducted in Houston, TX in the weeks following landfall of Hurricane Harvey in Aug-Sept 2017. This large-scale event resulted in widespread impacts to the City of Houston and surrounding areas in terms of both the manmade and natural environments. The field study included a broad range of air quality measurements (trace gas, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), aerosols, pesticides) starting two weeks after the Hurricane, including measurement at multiple sites and some mobile measurements. The measurements captured high biogenic VOCs, intermittently high anthropogenic VOCs, and a high ozone event. Results of the case study will be presented, as will recommendations for future efforts.