title: Global chemical composition of ambient fine particulate matter for exposure assessment.
abstract: Epidemiologic and health impact studies are inhibited by the paucity of global, long-term measurements of the chemical composition of fine particulate matter. We inferred PM2.5 chemical composition at 0.1° × 0.1° spatial resolution for 2004-2008 by combining aerosol optical depth retrieved from the MODIS and MISR satellite instruments, with coincident profile and composition information from the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model. Evaluation of the satellite-model PM2.5 composition data set with North American in situ measurements indicated significant spatial agreement for secondary inorganic aerosol, particulate organic mass, black carbon, mineral dust, and sea salt. We found that global population-weighted PM2.5 concentrations were dominated by particulate organic mass (11.9 ± 7.3 μg/m(3)), secondary inorganic aerosol (11.1 ± 5.0 μg/m(3)), and mineral dust (11.1 ± 7.9 μg/m(3)). Secondary inorganic PM2.5 concentrations exceeded 30 μg/m(3) over East China. Sensitivity simulations suggested that population-weighted ambient PM2.5 from biofuel burning (11 μg/m(3)) could be almost as large as from fossil fuel combustion sources (17 μg/m(3)). These estimates offer information about global population exposure to the chemical components and sources of PM2.5.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University , Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada.
authors.forename: Sajeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Philip
authors.forename: Randall V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Donkelaar
authors.forename: Jason Wai-Ho
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Yuxuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Prasad S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Kasibhatla
authors.forename: Siwen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Streets
authors.forename: Shabtai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bittman
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Macdonald
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009656:North America; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D010316:Particle Size; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter