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PASTA – Exposure and
dose-response calculations of particulate matter in Stockholm – Number,
surface area and mass concentrations.
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From the health point of view,
airborne particulate matter (PM) is considered as one of the most important
constituents of urban air pollution. The lack of data on the physical and
chemical properties of urban PM have made it difficult to explain
correlations between PM and various health effects as observed in
epidemiological studies. PM is very diverse in terms of its physical and
chemical properties. Aerosol particles typically range in size from a few
nanometers up to 100 or more micrometers.
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The hypothesis is that PM10
and PM2.5 are not very good indicators for health effects of PM.
The aims are to:
— further develop and validate existing models so that they can be used to
assess the temporal and geographical distribution of particulate matter in
urban air in Stockholm
— evaluate the relationships
between PM (mass, number and surface area) and other air pollution and traffic
parameters
— assess the health effects of particulate matter in urban air by evaluating
dos-response relationships between particle numbers, particle surface area and
mass
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Two types of models will be
developed so that the geographic and temporal variation of PM may be
evaluated and quantified. One local scale model that considers short-term
physical transformations of particles and local wind and turbulence fields
in street canyons. On a larger scale the MATCH model will be used. The
models will be validated using both fixed and mobile measurements of
particle numbers, mass and chemical composition. Health assessment will be
performed by quantification of the relationship between (modelled and/or
measured) particle concentrations and health indicators. For this purpose
total number of non-violent deaths, cardiopulmonary hospital admissions and
daily statistics from the primary health care centres will be used. At least
two years of data from fixed monitoring stations may be gathered. Model
calculated concentration matrixes include daily values during at least one
year.
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The project is a co-operation
between SLB-analysis at the Environment and Health Protection Administration
of Stockholm, ITM Stockholm university, SMHI Norrköping and the Dept of
Public Health & Clinical Medicine of Umeå University. Most of the
measurements and all model development is funded separately. The
measurements will be co-ordinated with the HEAPSS study. All studies will be
done in the urban area of Stockholm.
This project is suggested as part
of the SNAP programme and will be presented at seminars/conferences and in
scientific literature. The model development and measurements will be part of
PhD studies at Stockholm university.
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