The Pacific 2001 Air Quality Study—synthesis of findings and policy implications

The Pacific 2001 Air Quality Study was undertaken to characterize the physical and chemical properties of particulate matter in the Lower Fraser Valley (LFV) airshed of British Columbia. Aerosol transport in the LFV was observed to occur through several regional scale mechanisms, including seabreeze–landbreeze flows, upslope–downslope flows and north–south valley flows. Enhanced aerosol concentrations were observed in the eastern portion of the LFV, the north–south tributary valleys and the Gulf/San Juan islands convergence zone. Particle composition was found to vary according to proximity to emission sources relative to surface flows. Approximately half of the particle mass was comprised of organic carbon, with the rest being inorganic species. Sodium nitrate was an important component of the coarse particle fraction, while ammonium sulphate was concentrated in the fine fraction. A broad suite of organic substances were detected, and both anthropogenic and biogenic sources were found to contribute to secondary organic aerosol formation. Particle formation and growth was observed to occur via nucleation, condensation and coagulation. In general, the western part of the LFV airshed was dominated by combustion-related compounds, sea salt chemistry and organics (both anthropogenic and biogenic), while the eastern part of the airshed was dominated by NH3 chemistry and biogenic organics. The extent of processing of air masses was found to increase in a west to east direction, although the occasional accumulation of photochemically aged pollutants in the Gulf/San Juan islands convergence zone was observed to reverse this gradient. NH3 was found not to be a limiting species in the formation of fine mode inorganic aerosols, suggesting that NH3 emission reductions would have to be substantial in order to confer a significant improvement in PM and visibility. This coupled with the non-linear relationships between NOx, VOC and secondary particulates, suggests that PM and visibility improvement in the LFV would most likely require concurrent reductions in NH3, SOx, NOx and VOC emissions.