title: STEMS-Air: a simple GIS-based air pollution dispersion model for city-wide exposure assessment.
abstract: Current methods of air pollution modelling do not readily meet the needs of air pollution mapping for short-term (i.e. daily) exposure studies. The main limiting factor is that for those few models that couple with a GIS there are insufficient tools for directly mapping air pollution both at high spatial resolution and over large areas (e.g. city wide). A simple GIS-based air pollution model (STEMS-Air) has been developed for PM(10) to meet these needs with the option to choose different exposure averaging periods (e.g. daily and annual). STEMS-Air uses the grid-based FOCALSUM function in ArcGIS in conjunction with a fine grid of emission sources and basic information on meteorology to implement a simple Gaussian plume model of air pollution dispersion. STEMS-Air was developed and validated in London, UK, using data on concentrations of PM(10) from routinely available monitoring data. Results from the validation study show that STEMS-Air performs well in predicting both daily (at four sites) and annual (at 30 sites) concentrations of PM(10). For daily modelling, STEMS-Air achieved r(2) values in the range 0.19-0.43 (p<0.001) based solely on traffic-related emissions and r(2) values in the range 0.41-0.63 (p<0.001) when adding information on 'background' levels of PM(10). For annual modelling of PM(10), the model returned r(2) in the range 0.67-0.77 (P<0.001) when compared with monitored concentrations. The model can thus be used for rapid production of daily or annual city-wide air pollution maps either as a screening process in urban air quality planning and management, or as the basis for health risk assessment and epidemiological studies.
authors: MRC-HPA Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Imperial College London, London, UK. j.gulliver@imperial.ac.uk
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Gulliver
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Briggs
mesh_terms: D000392:Air Movements; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008956:Models, Chemical
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants