Why Study Air Quality and Climate Change?

Poor air quality is a leading cause of death and disease worldwide. Breathing polluted air damages lungs and other organs, and can lead to earlier deaths, lung cancer, heart disease, and neurological disorders. Air quality tends to be worse in areas with high traffic density or large industrial activities – the areas where lower income residents live. Climate change is leading to higher temperatures and more stagnant air, which is likely to result in higher pollution levels; increased exposure due to reduced winds and the need to keep windows open for cooling; and more forest fires that spread pollution widely, as in summer 2023.

How do the issues you study show up in Baltimore?

Recently the EPA proposed to strengthen the air quality standards for PM2.5, particles suspended in the air that are larger than 2.5 micrometers, which is 20+ times smaller than the thickness of a hair. Particles of this size are breathed into the lungs and circulate in the body. Some are more hazardous than others, but generally PM2.5 are measured all together.  Baltimore is currently near the proposed standard. These particles come from a variety of sources such as traffic and industrial emissions, so we need to understand the composition and sources of Baltimore’s PM2.5 if Baltimore is to reduce them.

Guiding questions for research

  1. How will climate change modify air pollution exposure in the future, and what actions, now and in the future, can be made to reduce that exposure?
  2. What is the spatial and temporal variability in Air Quality across the Baltimore urban area?
  3. What are the relative contributions of emissions (point sources and vehicles) and atmospheric processes on health risks?
  4. How can air quality modeling strategies best provide local, precise exposure estimates for outdoor and indoor exposure?

Sample project

BSEC has created a “supersite” near Johns Hopkins University where it assesses the sources of PM2.5, including traffic, industrial pollution, and the formation of pollutants in the atmosphere. The data will provide a better understanding of the sources of different pollutants, including different types of PM2.5 and greenhouse gases, as well as the chemistry leading to the observed pollutants. We are also making occasional mobile measurements, focusing on historically underserved neighborhoods. Data from heatwaves will provide possible snapshots of how increased heat may affect air quality. We will compare how pollutants in the atmosphere change with the seasons, as well as how policies or unusual events (like wildfires) affect air quality. We will use these measurements to test and improve our models of air quality so that we can better predict how climate change will affect air quality in Baltimore. The results will be shared with communities and the Maryland Department of Environment.

Team Co-Leads

Peter DeCarlo, Johns Hopkins University. Michael Waring, Drexel University.