1
|
Yu M, Zhang S, Ning H, Li Z, Zhang K. Assessing the 2023 Canadian wildfire smoke impact in Northeastern US: Air quality, exposure and environmental justice. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 926:171853. [PMID: 38522543 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2024] [Revised: 03/15/2024] [Accepted: 03/17/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
The Canadian wildfires in June 2023 significantly impacted the northeastern United States, particularly in terms of worsened air pollution and environmental justice concerns. While advancements have been made in low-cost sensor deployments and satellite observations of atmospheric composition, integrating dynamic human mobility with wildfire PM2.5 exposure to fully understand the environmental justice implications remains underinvestigated. This study aims to enhance the accuracy of estimating ground-level fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations by fusing chemical transport model outputs with empirical observations, estimating exposures using human mobility data, and evaluating the impact of environmental justice. Employing a novel data fusion technique, the study combines the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) outputs and surface PM2.5 measurements, providing a more accurate estimation of PM2.5 distribution. The study addresses the gap in traditional exposure assessments by incorporating human mobility data and further investigates the spatial correlation of PM2.5 levels with various environmental and demographic factors from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJScreen). Results reveal that despite reduced mobility during high PM2.5 levels from wildfire smoke, exposure for both residents and individuals on the move remains high. Regions already burdened with high environmental pollution levels face amplified PM2.5 effects from wildfire smoke. Furthermore, we observed mixed correlations between PM2.5 concentrations and various demographic and socioeconomic factors, indicating complex exposure patterns across communities. Urban areas, in particular, experience persistent high exposure, while significant correlations in rural areas with EJScreen factors highlight the unique vulnerabilities of these populations to smoke exposure. These results advocate for a comprehensive approach to environmental health that leverages advanced models, integrates human mobility data, and addresses socio-demographic disparities, contributing to the development of equitable strategies against the growing threat of wildfires.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Manzhu Yu
- Department of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, USA.
| | - Shiyan Zhang
- Department of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
| | - Huan Ning
- Department of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
| | - Zhenlong Li
- Department of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
| | - Kai Zhang
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University at Albany, State University of New York, Rensselaer 12144, NY, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Smith ML, Chi G. Spatial proximity to wildfires as a proxy for measuring PM 2.5: A novel method for estimating exposures in rural settings. THE JOURNAL OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEALTH 2023; 11:100219. [PMID: 38249516 PMCID: PMC10798235 DOI: 10.1016/j.joclim.2023.100219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2024]
Abstract
Background Climate change impacts humans and society both directly and indirectly. Alaska, for example, is warming twice as fast as the global mean, and researchers are starting to grapple with the varied and inter-connected ways in which climate change affects the people there. With the number of wildfires increasing in Alaska as a result of climate change, the number of asthma cases has increased, driven by exposure to small particulate matter. However, it is not clear how far away smoke from wildfires can affect health. In this study, we hope to establish a relationship between proximity to wildfires and asthma in locations where direct PM2.5 measurement is not easily accomplished. Methods In this study, we examined whether proximity to wildfire exposure is associated with regional counts of adults with asthma, calculated using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey data and US Census data. We assigned "hotspots" around population centers with a range of various distances to wildfires in Alaska. Results We found that wildfires are associated with asthma prevalence, and the association is strongest within 25 miles of fires. Conclusions This study highlights the fact that proximity to wildfires has potential as a simple proxy for actual measured wildfire smoke, which has important implications for wildfire management agencies and for policy makers who must address health issues associated with wildfires, especially in rural areas.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- M. Luke Smith
- Social Science Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Guangqing Chi
- Social Science Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Population Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Yu M, Masrur A, Blaszczak-Boxe C. Predicting hourly PM 2.5 concentrations in wildfire-prone areas using a SpatioTemporal Transformer model. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 860:160446. [PMID: 36436649 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Globally, wildfires are becoming more frequent and destructive, generating a significant amount of smoke that can transport thousands of miles. Therefore, improving air pollution forecasts from wildfires is essential and informing citizens of more frequent, accurate, and interpretable updates related to localized air pollution events. This research proposes a multi-head attention-based deep learning architecture, SpatioTemporal (ST)-Transformer, to improve spatiotemporal predictions of PM2.5 concentrations in wildfire-prone areas. The ST-Transformer model employed a sparse attention mechanism that concentrates on the most useful contextual information across spatial, temporal, and variable-wise dimensions. The model includes critical driving factors of PM2.5 concentrations as predicting factors, including wildfire perimeter and intensity, meteorological factors, road traffic, PM2.5, and temporal indicators from the past 24 h. The model is trained to conduct time series forecasting on PM2.5 concentrations at EPA's air quality stations in the greater Los Angeles area. Prediction results were compared with other existing time series forecasting methods and exhibited better performance, especially in capturing abrupt changes or spikes in PM2.5 concentrations during wildfire situations. The attention matrix learned by the proposed model enabled interpretation of the complex spatial, temporal, and variable-wise dependencies, indicating that the model can differentiate between wildfires and non-wildfires. The ST-Transformer model's accurate predictability and interpretation capacity can help effectively monitor and predict the impacts of wildfire smoke and be applicable to other complex spatiotemporal prediction problems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Manzhu Yu
- Department of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, United States of America.
| | - Arif Masrur
- Environmental Systems Research Institute, United States of America
| | - Christopher Blaszczak-Boxe
- Department of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, United States of America; Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Howard University, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Neo EX, Hasikin K, Mokhtar MI, Lai KW, Azizan MM, Razak SA, Hizaddin HF. Towards Integrated Air Pollution Monitoring and Health Impact Assessment Using Federated Learning: A Systematic Review. Front Public Health 2022; 10:851553. [PMID: 35664109 PMCID: PMC9160600 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.851553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2022] [Accepted: 04/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental issues such as environmental pollutions and climate change are the impacts of globalization and become debatable issues among academics and industry key players. One of the environmental issues which is air pollution has been catching attention among industrialists, researchers, and communities around the world. However, it has always neglected until the impacts on human health become worse, and at times, irreversible. Human exposure to air pollutant such as particulate matters, sulfur dioxide, ozone and carbon monoxide contributed to adverse health hazards which result in respiratory diseases, cardiorespiratory diseases, cancers, and worst, can lead to death. This has led to a spike increase of hospitalization and emergency department visits especially at areas with worse pollution cases that seriously impacting human life and health. To address this alarming issue, a predictive model of air pollution is crucial in assessing the impacts of health due to air pollution. It is also critical in predicting the air quality index when assessing the risk contributed by air pollutant exposure. Hence, this systemic review explores the existing studies on anticipating air quality impact to human health using the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI). From the extensive review, we highlighted research gaps in this field that are worth to inquire. Our study proposes to develop an AI-based integrated environmental and health impact assessment system using federated learning. This is specifically aims to identify the association of health impact and pollution based on socio-economic activities and predict the Air Quality Index (AQI) for impact assessment. The output of the system will be utilized for hospitals and healthcare services management and planning. The proposed solution is expected to accommodate the needs of the critical and prioritization of sensitive group of publics during pollution seasons. Our finding will bring positive impacts to the society in terms of improved healthcare services quality, environmental and health sustainability. The findings are beneficial to local authorities either in healthcare or environmental monitoring institutions especially in the developing countries.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- En Xin Neo
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Khairunnisa Hasikin
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Center of Image and Signal Processing (CISIP), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Mohd Istajib Mokhtar
- Department of Science and Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Khin Wee Lai
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Muhammad Mokhzaini Azizan
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai, Malaysia
| | - Sarah Abdul Razak
- Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Hanee Farzana Hizaddin
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Vu BN, Bi J, Wang W, Huff A, Kondragunta S, Liu Y. Application of geostationary satellite and high-resolution meteorology data in estimating hourly PM 2.5 levels during the Camp Fire episode in California. REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT 2022; 271:112890. [PMID: 37033879 PMCID: PMC10081518 DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2022.112890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Wildland fire smoke contains large amounts of PM2.5 that can traverse tens to hundreds of kilometers, resulting in significant deterioration of air quality and excess mortality and morbidity in downwind regions. Estimating PM2.5 levels while considering the impact of wildfire smoke has been challenging due to the lack of ground monitoring coverage near the smoke plumes. We aim to estimate total PM2.5 concentration during the Camp Fire episode, the deadliest wildland fire in California history. Our random forest (RF) model combines calibrated low-cost sensor data (PurpleAir) with regulatory monitor measurements (Air Quality System, AQS) to bolster ground observations, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16 (GOES-16)'s high temporal resolution to achieve hourly predictions, and oversampling techniques (Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique, SMOTE) to reduce model underestimation at high PM2.5 levels. In addition, meteorological fields at 3 km resolution from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model and land use variables were also included in the model. Our AQS-only model achieved an out of bag (OOB) R2 (RMSE) of 0.84 (12.00 μg/m3) and spatial and temporal cross-validation (CV) R2 (RMSE) of 0.74 (16.28 μg/m3) and 0.73 (16.58 μg/m3), respectively. Our AQS + Weighted PurpleAir Model achieved OOB R2 (RMSE) of 0.86 (9.52 μg/m3) and spatial and temporal CV R2 (RMSE) of 0.75 (14.93 μg/m3) and 0.79 (11.89 μg/m3), respectively. Our AQS + Weighted PurpleAir + SMOTE Model achieved OOB R2 (RMSE) of 0.92 (10.44 μg/m3) and spatial and temporal CV R2 (RMSE) of 0.84 (12.36 μg/m3) and 0.85 (14.88 μg/m3), respectively. Hourly predictions from our model may aid in epidemiological investigations of intense and acute exposure to PM2.5 during the Camp Fire episode.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bryan N. Vu
- Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
- Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Jianzhao Bi
- Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Wenhao Wang
- Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Amy Huff
- I.M. Systems Group, 5825 University Research Ct, Suite 3250, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Shobha Kondragunta
- Satellite Meteorology and Climatology Division, STAR Center for Satellite Applications and Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Yang Liu
- Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
A Systematic Review of Applications of Machine Learning Techniques for Wildfire Management Decision Support. INVENTIONS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/inventions7010015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Wildfires threaten and kill people, destroy urban and rural property, degrade air quality, ravage forest ecosystems, and contribute to global warming. Wildfire management decision support models are thus important for avoiding or mitigating the effects of these events. In this context, this paper aims at providing a review of recent applications of machine learning methods for wildfire management decision support. The emphasis is on providing a summary of these applications with a classification according to the case study type, machine learning method, case study location, and performance metrics. The review considers documents published in the last four years, using a sample of 135 documents (review articles and research articles). It is concluded that the adoption of machine learning methods may contribute to enhancing support in different fire management phases.
Collapse
|
7
|
Gao P, Terando AJ, Kupfer JA, Morgan Varner J, Stambaugh MC, Lei TL, Kevin Hiers J. Robust projections of future fire probability for the conterminous United States. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 789:147872. [PMID: 34082198 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 04/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/14/2021] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Globally increasing wildfires have been attributed to anthropogenic climate change. However, providing decision makers with a clear understanding of how future planetary warming could affect fire regimes is complicated by confounding land use factors that influence wildfire and by uncertainty associated with model simulations of climate change. We use an ensemble of statistically downscaled Global Climate Models in combination with the Physical Chemistry Fire Frequency Model (PC2FM) to project changing potential fire probabilities in the conterminous United States for two scenarios representing lower (RCP 4.5) and higher (RCP 8.5) greenhouse gas emission futures. PC2FM is a physically-based and scale-independent model that predicts mean fire return intervals from both fire reactant and reaction variables, which are largely dependent on a locale's climate. Our results overwhelmingly depict increasing potential fire probabilities across the conterminous US for both climate scenarios. The primary mechanism for the projected increases is rising temperatures, reflecting changes in the chemical reaction environment commensurate with enhanced photosynthetic rates and available thermal molecular energy. Existing high risk areas, such as the Cascade Range and the Coastal California Mountains, are projected to experience greater annual fire occurrence probabilities, with relative increases of 122% and 67%, respectively, under RCP 8.5 compared to increases of 63% and 38% under RCP 4.5. Regions not currently associated with frequently occurring wildfires, such as New England and the Great Lakes, are projected to experience a doubling of occurrence probabilities by 2100 under RCP 8.5. This high resolution, continental-scale modeling study of climate change impacts on potential fire probability accounts for shifting background environmental conditions across regions that will interact with topographic drivers to significantly alter future fire probabilities. The ensemble modeling approach presents a useful planning tool for mitigation and adaptation strategies in regions of increasing wildfire risk.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Peng Gao
- Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA.
| | - Adam J Terando
- US Geological Survey, Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, Raleigh, NC, USA; Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
| | - John A Kupfer
- Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | | | | | - Ting L Lei
- Department of Geography & Atmospheric Science, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
| | | |
Collapse
|
8
|
Chen G, Guo Y, Yue X, Tong S, Gasparrini A, Bell ML, Armstrong B, Schwartz J, Jaakkola JJK, Zanobetti A, Lavigne E, Nascimento Saldiva PH, Kan H, Royé D, Milojevic A, Overcenco A, Urban A, Schneider A, Entezari A, Vicedo-Cabrera AM, Zeka A, Tobias A, Nunes B, Alahmad B, Forsberg B, Pan SC, Íñiguez C, Ameling C, De la Cruz Valencia C, Åström C, Houthuijs D, Van Dung D, Samoli E, Mayvaneh F, Sera F, Carrasco-Escobar G, Lei Y, Orru H, Kim H, Holobaca IH, Kyselý J, Teixeira JP, Madureira J, Katsouyanni K, Hurtado-Díaz M, Maasikmets M, Ragettli MS, Hashizume M, Stafoggia M, Pascal M, Scortichini M, de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coêlho M, Valdés Ortega N, Ryti NRI, Scovronick N, Matus P, Goodman P, Garland RM, Abrutzky R, Garcia SO, Rao S, Fratianni S, Dang TN, Colistro V, Huber V, Lee W, Seposo X, Honda Y, Guo YL, Ye T, Yu W, Abramson MJ, Samet JM, Li S. Mortality risk attributable to wildfire-related PM 2·5 pollution: a global time series study in 749 locations. Lancet Planet Health 2021; 5:e579-e587. [PMID: 34508679 DOI: 10.1016/s2542-5196(21)00200-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Many regions of the world are now facing more frequent and unprecedentedly large wildfires. However, the association between wildfire-related PM2·5 and mortality has not been well characterised. We aimed to comprehensively assess the association between short-term exposure to wildfire-related PM2·5 and mortality across various regions of the world. METHODS For this time series study, data on daily counts of deaths for all causes, cardiovascular causes, and respiratory causes were collected from 749 cities in 43 countries and regions during 2000-16. Daily concentrations of wildfire-related PM2·5 were estimated using the three-dimensional chemical transport model GEOS-Chem at a 0·25° × 0·25° resolution. The association between wildfire-related PM2·5 exposure and mortality was examined using a quasi-Poisson time series model in each city considering both the current-day and lag effects, and the effect estimates were then pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis. Based on these pooled effect estimates, the population attributable fraction and relative risk (RR) of annual mortality due to acute wildfire-related PM2·5 exposure was calculated. FINDINGS 65·6 million all-cause deaths, 15·1 million cardiovascular deaths, and 6·8 million respiratory deaths were included in our analyses. The pooled RRs of mortality associated with each 10 μg/m3 increase in the 3-day moving average (lag 0-2 days) of wildfire-related PM2·5 exposure were 1·019 (95% CI 1·016-1·022) for all-cause mortality, 1·017 (1·012-1·021) for cardiovascular mortality, and 1·019 (1·013-1·025) for respiratory mortality. Overall, 0·62% (95% CI 0·48-0·75) of all-cause deaths, 0·55% (0·43-0·67) of cardiovascular deaths, and 0·64% (0·50-0·78) of respiratory deaths were annually attributable to the acute impacts of wildfire-related PM2·5 exposure during the study period. INTERPRETATION Short-term exposure to wildfire-related PM2·5 was associated with increased risk of mortality. Urgent action is needed to reduce health risks from the increasing wildfires. FUNDING Australian Research Council, Australian National Health & Medical Research Council.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gongbo Chen
- Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Environmental and Health Risk Assessment, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Yuming Guo
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
| | - Xu Yue
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, China
| | - Shilu Tong
- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; School of Public Health, Institute of Environment and Human Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China; Center for Global Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China; School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Antonio Gasparrini
- Department of Public Health Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK; Centre for Statistical Methodology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK; Centre on Climate Change & Planetary Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | | | - Ben Armstrong
- Department of Public Health Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Joel Schwartz
- Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jouni J K Jaakkola
- Center for Environmental and Respiratory Health Research, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Antonella Zanobetti
- Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Eric Lavigne
- School of Epidemiology & Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada; Air Health Science Division, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | | | - Haidong Kan
- Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Dominic Royé
- Department of Geography, University of Santiago de Compostela, CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Spain
| | - Ai Milojevic
- Department of Public Health Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Ala Overcenco
- National Agency for Public Health of the Ministry of Health, Chisinau, Moldova
| | - Aleš Urban
- Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic; Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Alexandra Schneider
- Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München-German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Alireza Entezari
- Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Khorasan Razavi, Iran
| | - Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera
- Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine and Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Ariana Zeka
- Institute of Environment, Health and Societies, Brunel University London, London, UK
| | - Aurelio Tobias
- Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Barcelona, Spain; School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
| | - Baltazar Nunes
- Department of Epidemiology, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Barrak Alahmad
- Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Bertil Forsberg
- Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Shih-Chun Pan
- National Institute of Environmental Health Science, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Taiwan
| | - Carmen Íñiguez
- Department of Statistics and Computational Research. Universitat de València, Valencia, CIBERESP, Spain
| | - Caroline Ameling
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Centre for Sustainability and Environmental Health, Bilthoven, Netherlands
| | - César De la Cruz Valencia
- Department of Environmental Health, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Christofer Åström
- Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Danny Houthuijs
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Centre for Sustainability and Environmental Health, Bilthoven, Netherlands
| | - Do Van Dung
- Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Public Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
| | - Evangelia Samoli
- Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Fatemeh Mayvaneh
- Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Khorasan Razavi, Iran
| | - Francesco Sera
- Department of Public Health Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK; Department of Statistics, Computer Science and Applications "G Parenti", University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Gabriel Carrasco-Escobar
- Institute of Tropical Medicine "Alexander von Humboldt", Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
| | - Yadong Lei
- Climate Change Research Center, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hans Orru
- Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Ho Kim
- Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | | | - Jan Kyselý
- Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic; Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - João Paulo Teixeira
- Department of Environmental Health, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr Ricardo Jorge, Porto, Portugal
| | - Joana Madureira
- Department of Environmental Health, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr Ricardo Jorge, Porto, Portugal; EPIUnit-Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Klea Katsouyanni
- Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Magali Hurtado-Díaz
- Department of Environmental Health, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
| | | | - Martina S Ragettli
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Masahiro Hashizume
- Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Massimo Stafoggia
- Department of Epidemiology, Lazio Regional Health Service, Rome, Italy
| | - Mathilde Pascal
- Santé Publique France, Department of Environmental and occupational Health, French National Public Health Agency, Saint Maurice, France
| | | | | | | | - Niilo R I Ryti
- Center for Environmental and Respiratory Health Research, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Noah Scovronick
- Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Patricia Matus
- Department of Public Health, Universidad de los Andes, Santiago, Chile
| | | | - Rebecca M Garland
- Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa; Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa; Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North West University, South Africa
| | - Rosana Abrutzky
- Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | | | - Shilpa Rao
- Norwegian institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Simona Fratianni
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Tran Ngoc Dang
- Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Public Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
| | - Valentina Colistro
- Department of Quantitative Methods, School of Medicine, University of the Republic, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Veronika Huber
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany; Department of Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
| | - Whanhee Lee
- School of Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Xerxes Seposo
- School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
| | - Yasushi Honda
- Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Yue Leon Guo
- National Institute of Environmental Health Science, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Taiwan; Environmental and Occupational Medicine, and Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, National Taiwan University and National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Tingting Ye
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Wenhua Yu
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Michael J Abramson
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Jonathan M Samet
- The Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Aurora
| | - Shanshan Li
- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
O'Neill SM, Diao M, Raffuse S, Al-Hamdan M, Barik M, Jia Y, Reid S, Zou Y, Tong D, West JJ, Wilkins J, Marsha A, Freedman F, Vargo J, Larkin NK, Alvarado E, Loesche P. A multi-analysis approach for estimating regional health impacts from the 2017 Northern California wildfires. JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (1995) 2021; 71:791-814. [PMID: 33630725 DOI: 10.1080/10962247.2021.1891994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Revised: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Smoke impacts from large wildfires are mounting, and the projection is for more such events in the future as the one experienced October 2017 in Northern California, and subsequently in 2018 and 2020. Further, the evidence is growing about the health impacts from these events which are also difficult to simulate. Therefore, we simulated air quality conditions using a suite of remotely-sensed data, surface observational data, chemical transport modeling with WRF-CMAQ, one data fusion, and three machine learning methods to arrive at datasets useful to air quality and health impact analyses. To demonstrate these analyses, we estimated the health impacts from smoke impacts during wildfires in October 8-20, 2017, in Northern California, when over 7 million people were exposed to Unhealthy to Very Unhealthy air quality conditions. We investigated using the 5-min available GOES-16 fire detection data to simulate timing of fire activity to allocate emissions hourly for the WRF-CMAQ system. Interestingly, this approach did not necessarily improve overall results, however it was key to simulating the initial 12-hr explosive fire activity and smoke impacts. To improve these results, we applied one data fusion and three machine learning algorithms. We also had a unique opportunity to evaluate results with temporary monitors deployed specifically for wildfires, and performance was markedly different. For example, at the permanent monitoring locations, the WRF-CMAQ simulations had a Pearson correlation of 0.65, and the data fusion approach improved this (Pearson correlation = 0.95), while at the temporary monitor locations across all cases, the best Pearson correlation was 0.5. Overall, WRF-CMAQ simulations were biased high and the geostatistical methods were biased low. Finally, we applied the optimized PM2.5 exposure estimate in an exposure-response function. Estimated mortality attributable to PM2.5 exposure during the smoke episode was 83 (95% CI: 0, 196) with 47% attributable to wildland fire smoke.Implications: Large wildfires in the United States and in particular California are becoming increasingly common. Associated with these large wildfires are air quality and health impact to millions of people from the smoke. We simulated air quality conditions using a suite of remotely-sensed data, surface observational data, chemical transport modeling, one data fusion, and three machine learning methods to arrive at datasets useful to air quality and health impact analyses from the October 2017 Northern California wildfires. Temporary monitors deployed for the wildfires provided an important model evaluation dataset. Total estimated regional mortality attributable to PM2.5 exposure during the smoke episode was 83 (95% confidence interval: 0, 196) with 47% of these deaths attributable to the wildland fire smoke. This illustrates the profound effect that even a 12-day exposure to wildland fire smoke can have on human health.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Susan M O'Neill
- Pacific Northwest Research Station, US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Minghui Diao
- Meteorology and Climate Science, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA
| | - Sean Raffuse
- Air Quality Research Center, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Mohammad Al-Hamdan
- National Space Science and Technology Center, Universities Space Research Association at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA
- National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering (NCCHE) and Department of Civil Engineering and Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA
| | - Muhammad Barik
- Yara North America Inc., San Francisco Hub, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Yiqin Jia
- Assessment, Inventory & Modeling Division, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Steve Reid
- Assessment, Inventory & Modeling Division, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Yufei Zou
- Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Daniel Tong
- Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
| | - J Jason West
- Environmental Sciences & Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Joseph Wilkins
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Amy Marsha
- Pacific Northwest Research Station, US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Frank Freedman
- Meteorology and Climate Science, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA
| | - Jason Vargo
- Office of Health Equity, California Department of Public Health, Richmond, CA, USA
| | - Narasimhan K Larkin
- Pacific Northwest Research Station, US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Ernesto Alvarado
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Patti Loesche
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Haghani A, Morgan TE, Forman HJ, Finch CE. Air Pollution Neurotoxicity in the Adult Brain: Emerging Concepts from Experimental Findings. J Alzheimers Dis 2021; 76:773-797. [PMID: 32538853 DOI: 10.3233/jad-200377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Epidemiological studies are associating elevated exposure to air pollution with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. In effect, air pollution accelerates many aging conditions that promote cognitive declines of aging. The underlying mechanisms and scale of effects remain largely unknown due to its chemical and physical complexity. Moreover, individual responses to air pollution are shaped by an intricate interface of pollutant mixture with the biological features of the exposed individual such as age, sex, genetic background, underlying diseases, and nutrition, but also other environmental factors including exposure to cigarette smoke. Resolving this complex manifold requires more detailed environmental and lifestyle data on diverse populations, and a systematic experimental approach. Our review aims to summarize the modest existing literature on experimental studies on air pollution neurotoxicity for adult rodents and identify key gaps and emerging challenges as we go forward. It is timely for experimental biologists to critically understand prior findings and develop innovative approaches to this urgent global problem. We hope to increase recognition of the importance of air pollution on brain aging by our colleagues in the neurosciences and in biomedical gerontology, and to support the immediate translation of the findings into public health guidelines for the regulation of remedial environmental factors that accelerate aging processes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Amin Haghani
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, USC, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Todd E Morgan
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, USC, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | - Caleb E Finch
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, USC, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Dornsife College, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Liu Y, Austin E, Xiang J, Gould T, Larson T, Seto E. Health Impact Assessment of the 2020 Washington State Wildfire Smoke Episode: Excess Health Burden Attributable to Increased PM 2.5 Exposures and Potential Exposure Reductions. GEOHEALTH 2021; 5:e2020GH000359. [PMID: 33977180 PMCID: PMC8101535 DOI: 10.1029/2020gh000359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2020] [Revised: 04/07/2021] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Major wildfires starting in the summer of 2020 along the west coast of the United States made PM2.5 concentrations in this region rank among the highest in the world. Washington was impacted both by active wildfires in the state and aged wood smoke transported from fires in Oregon and California. This study aims to estimate the magnitude and disproportionate spatial impacts of increased PM2.5 concentrations attributable to these wildfires on population health. Daily PM2.5 concentrations for each county before and during the 2020 Washington wildfire episode (September 7-19) were obtained from regulatory air monitors. Utilizing previously established concentration-response function (CRF) of PM2.5 (CRF of total PM2.5) and odds ratio (OR) of wildfire smoke days (OR of wildfire smoke days) for mortality, we estimated excess mortality attributable to the increased PM2.5 concentrations in Washington. On average, daily PM2.5 concentrations increased 97.1 μg/m3 during the wildfire smoke episode. With CRF of total PM2.5, the 13-day exposure to wildfire smoke was estimated to lead to 92.2 (95% CI: 0.0, 178.7) more all-cause mortality cases; with OR of wildfire smoke days, 38.4 (95% CI: 0.0, 93.3) increased all-cause mortality cases and 15.1 (95% CI: 0.0, 27.9) increased respiratory mortality cases were attributable to the wildfire smoke episode. The potential impact of avoiding elevated PM2.5 exposures during wildfire events significantly reduced the mortality burden. Because wildfire smoke episodes are likely to impact the Pacific Northwest in future years, continued preparedness and mitigations to reduce exposures to wildfire smoke are necessary to avoid excess health burden.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yisi Liu
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health SciencesUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
| | - Elena Austin
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health SciencesUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
| | - Jianbang Xiang
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health SciencesUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
| | - Tim Gould
- Department of Civil and Environmental EngineeringUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
| | - Tim Larson
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health SciencesUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
- Department of Civil and Environmental EngineeringUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
| | - Edmund Seto
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health SciencesUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Henderson SB, Morrison KT, McLean KE, Ding Y, Yao J, Shaddick G, Buckeridge DL. Staying Ahead of the Epidemiologic Curve: Evaluation of the British Columbia Asthma Prediction System (BCAPS) During the Unprecedented 2018 Wildfire Season. Front Public Health 2021; 9:499309. [PMID: 33777871 PMCID: PMC7994359 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.499309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2019] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: The modular British Columbia Asthma Prediction System (BCAPS) is designed to reduce information burden during wildfire smoke events by automatically gathering, integrating, generating, and visualizing data for public health users. The BCAPS framework comprises five flexible and geographically scalable modules: (1) historic data on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations; (2) historic data on relevant health indicator counts; (3) PM2.5 forecasts for the upcoming days; (4) a health forecasting model that uses the relationship between (1) and (2) to predict the impacts of (3); and (5) a reporting mechanism. Methods: The 2018 wildfire season was the most extreme in British Columbia history. Every morning BCAPS generated forecasts of salbutamol sulfate (e.g., Ventolin) inhaler dispensations for the upcoming days in 16 Health Service Delivery Areas (HSDAs) using random forest machine learning. These forecasts were compared with observations over a 63-day study period using different methods including the index of agreement (IOA), which ranges from 0 (no agreement) to 1 (perfect agreement). Some observations were compared with the same period in the milder wildfire season of 2016 for context. Results: The mean province-wide population-weighted PM2.5 concentration over the study period was 22.0 μg/m3, compared with 4.2 μg/m3 during the milder wildfire season of 2016. The PM2.5 forecasts underpredicted the severe smoke impacts, but the IOA was relatively strong with a population-weighted average of 0.85, ranging from 0.65 to 0.95 among the HSDAs. Inhaler dispensations increased by 30% over 2016 values. Forecasted dispensations were within 20% of the observed value in 71% of cases, and the IOA was strong with a population-weighted average of 0.95, ranging from 0.92 to 0.98. All measures of agreement were correlated with HSDA population, where BCAPS performance was better in the larger populations with more moderate smoke impacts. The accuracy of the health forecasts was partially dependent on the accuracy of the PM2.5 forecasts, but they were robust to over- and underpredictions of PM2.5 exposure. Conclusions: Daily reports from the BCAPS framework provided timely and reasonable insight into the population health impacts of predicted smoke exposures, though more work is necessary to improve the PM2.5 and health indicator forecasts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah B Henderson
- Environmental Health Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Kathryn T Morrison
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Kathleen E McLean
- Environmental Health Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Yue Ding
- Environmental Health Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Jiayun Yao
- Environmental Health Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Gavin Shaddick
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
| | - David L Buckeridge
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Cleland SE, West JJ, Jia Y, Reid S, Raffuse S, O’Neill S, Serre ML. Estimating Wildfire Smoke Concentrations during the October 2017 California Fires through BME Space/Time Data Fusion of Observed, Modeled, and Satellite-Derived PM 2.5. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2020; 54:13439-13447. [PMID: 33064454 PMCID: PMC7894965 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c03761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Exposure to wildfire smoke causes adverse health outcomes, suggesting the importance of accurately estimating smoke concentrations. Geostatistical methods can combine observed, modeled, and satellite-derived concentrations to produce accurate estimates. Here, we estimate daily average ground-level PM2.5 concentrations at a 1 km resolution during the October 2017 California wildfires, using the Constant Air Quality Model Performance (CAMP) and Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) methods to bias-correct and fuse three concentration datasets: permanent and temporary monitoring stations, a chemical transport model (CTM), and satellite-derived estimates. Four BME space/time kriging and data fusion methods were evaluated. All BME methods produce more accurate estimates than the standalone CTM and satellite products. Adding temporary station data increases the R2 by 36%. The data fusion of observations with the CAMP-corrected CTM and satellite-derived concentrations provides the best estimate (R2 = 0.713) in fire-impacted regions, emphasizing the importance of combining multiple datasets. We estimate that approximately 65,000 people were exposed to very unhealthy air (daily average PM2.5 ≥ 150.5 μg/m3).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie E. Cleland
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - J. Jason West
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Yiqin Jia
- Bay Area Air Quality Management District, San Francisco, California 94105, United States
| | - Stephen Reid
- Bay Area Air Quality Management District, San Francisco, California 94105, United States
| | - Sean Raffuse
- Air Quality Research Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616, United States
| | - Susan O’Neill
- Pacific Northwest Research Station, United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Seattle, Washington 98103, United States
| | - Marc L. Serre
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
- Corresponding Author: ; phone: (919) 966-7014
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Abstract
The summer of 2018 saw intense smoke impacts on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in California, which have been anecdotally ascribed to the closest wildfire, the Lions Fire. We examined the role of the Lions Fire and four other, simultaneous large wildfires on smoke impacts across the Eastern Sierra. Our approach combined GOES-16 satellite data with fire activity, fuel loading, and fuel type, to allocate emissions diurnally per hour for each fire. To apportion smoke impacts at key monitoring sites, dispersion was modeled via the BlueSky framework, and daily averaged PM2.5 concentrations were estimated from 23 July to 29 August 2018. To estimate the relative impact of each contributing wildfire at six Eastern Sierra monitoring sites, we layered the multiple modeled impacts, calculated their proportion from each fire and at each site, and used that proportion to apportion smoke from each fire’s monitored impact. The combined smoke concentration due to multiple large, concurrent, but more distant fires was on many days substantially higher than the concentration attributable to the Lions Fire, which was much closer to the air quality monitoring sites. These daily apportionments provide an objective basis for understanding the extent to which local versus regional fire affected Eastern Sierra Nevada air quality. The results corroborate previous case studies showing that slower-growing fires, when and where managed for resource objectives, can create more transient and manageable air quality impacts relative to larger fires where such management strategies are not used or feasible.
Collapse
|
15
|
Wildfire Smoke Transport and Air Quality Impacts in Different Regions of China. ATMOSPHERE 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/atmos11090941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The air quality and human health impacts of wildfires depend on fire, meteorology, and demography. These properties vary substantially from one region to another in China. This study compared smoke from more than a dozen wildfires in Northeast, North, and Southwest China to understand the regional differences in smoke transport and the air quality and human health impacts. Smoke was simulated using the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model (HYSPLIT) with fire emissions obtained from the Global Fire Emission Database (GFED). Although the simulated PM2.5 concentrations reached unhealthy or more severe levels at regional scale for some largest fires in Northeast China, smoke from only one fire was transported to densely populated areas (population density greater than 100 people/km2). In comparison, the PM2.5 concentrations reached unhealthy level in local densely populated areas for a few fires in North and Southwest China, though they were very low at regional scale. Thus, individual fires with very large sizes in Northeast China had a large amount of emissions but with a small chance to affect air quality in densely populated areas, while those in North and Southwest China had a small amount of emissions but with a certain chance to affect local densely populated areas. The results suggest that the fire and air quality management should focus on the regional air quality and human health impacts of very large fires under southward/southeastward winds toward densely populated areas in Northeast China and local air pollution near fire sites in North and Southwest China.
Collapse
|
16
|
Marko T, Suarez M, Todorova E, Mark C, Julie P. A Scoping Review of Nurses' Contributions to Health-Related, Wildfire Research. ANNUAL REVIEW OF NURSING RESEARCH 2020; 38:73-96. [PMID: 32102956 DOI: 10.1891/0739-6686.38.73] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Exposure to unprecedented levels of wildfire smoke is increasing cardiopulmonary mortality and is especially catastrophic to people with preexisting respiratory conditions such as asthma. Wildfire smoke is a mixture of hazardous air pollutants and airborne particulate matter and wildfires are burning larger areas of land and lasting longer, extending the smoke season. The wildfire season is also expected to lengthen as a result of the changing climate. This scoping review examines publications related to wildfires and health in order to explore the ways in which nursing science contributes to research on the health effects of wildfires and strategies to decrease exposure to wildfires and/or wildfire smoke. Nursing's contribution to wildfire research needs to increase to meet the demands of this rapidly growing, international problem. Nurses have an opportunity to protect the public's health through interventional research focused on preventing exposure and applying what is learned to practice.
Collapse
|
17
|
Jaffe DA, O’Neill SM, Larkin NK, Holder AL, Peterson DL, Halofsky JE, Rappold AG. Wildfire and prescribed burning impacts on air quality in the United States. JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (1995) 2020; 70:583-615. [PMID: 32240055 PMCID: PMC7932990 DOI: 10.1080/10962247.2020.1749731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Air quality impacts from wildfires have been dramatic in recent years, with millions of people exposed to elevated and sometimes hazardous fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) concentrations for extended periods. Fires emit particulate matter (PM) and gaseous compounds that can negatively impact human health and reduce visibility. While the overall trend in U.S. air quality has been improving for decades, largely due to implementation of the Clean Air Act, seasonal wildfires threaten to undo this in some regions of the United States. Our understanding of the health effects of smoke is growing with regard to respiratory and cardiovascular consequences and mortality. The costs of these health outcomes can exceed the billions already spent on wildfire suppression. In this critical review, we examine each of the processes that influence wildland fires and the effects of fires, including the natural role of wildland fire, forest management, ignitions, emissions, transport, chemistry, and human health impacts. We highlight key data gaps and examine the complexity and scope and scale of fire occurrence, estimated emissions, and resulting effects on regional air quality across the United States. The goal is to clarify which areas are well understood and which need more study. We conclude with a set of recommendations for future research. IMPLICATIONS In the recent decade the area of wildfires in the United States has increased dramatically and the resulting smoke has exposed millions of people to unhealthy air quality. In this critical review we examine the key factors and impacts from fires including natural role of wildland fire, forest management, ignitions, emissions, transport, chemistry and human health.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel A. Jaffe
- School of STEM and Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | | | | | - Amara L. Holder
- Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - David L. Peterson
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington Seattle, Seattle WA, USA
| | - Jessica E. Halofsky
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington Seattle, Seattle WA, USA
| | - Ana G. Rappold
- National Health and Environmental Effects Research Lab, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| |
Collapse
|