Significant emissions reductions in the northeastern United States have occurred in recent years. For example, there has been closures of or emission controls added to coal-fired power plants, emissions from local industries have been reduced, and new, heavy-duty diesel trucks are equipped with particle traps and use ultralow sulfur fuel. Particle size distributions have been measured in Rochester, NY since the end of 2001. Prior studies have examined the sources of particles and other air pollutants through 2007. This study investigates whether the emissions changes have resulted in observable changes in air quality. Data measured between January 2008 and December 2013 at New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) site in Rochester, NY include ambient submicron particle number size distributions (11–470 nm), gaseous pollutants, black carbon (BC), UV black carbon (UVBC), Delta-C (UVBC–BC) and meteorological variables. Two periods, 2008-2010 and 2011-2013, were divided into three different seasons and analyzed separately with positive matrix factorization (PMF). The error estimation method, displacement (DISP) of factor elements, in EPA PMF V5 was used to estimate the profile variability due to rotational ambiguity. The PMF analyses yielded 8 different source profiles: two traffic factors, nucleation, residential/commercial heating, secondary nitrate, secondary sulfate, ozone-rich secondary aerosol, and regionally transported aerosol. Secondary sulfate and regional transport were not found in the winter samples while secondary nitrate and residential/commercial heating were not resolved from the summer data. The profiles were generally characterized by similar number modes for the winter, summer, or transition periods. Similar sources were normally resolved in both periods with lower number concentrations during 2011-2013 compared with 2008-2010. Comparison with the 2001to 2007 results showed that the previously identified industrial emissions and mixed nucleation/traffic sources were no longer detected in the more recent data.

Assessing the impacts of changes in sources on air pollution in Rochester, NY from 2008 to 2013

255th National Meeting (2018)

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