Field Equipment

South Coast AQMD staff will use a combination of existing and new air monitoring equipment to implement the air monitoring portion of AB 617 for developing community-driven and measurement-based emission and exposure reduction strategies. In essence, appropriate technology for the intended purpose will be used to monitor the pollutants of interest in each AB 617 community.

List of Available Field Equipment

Note: The field instruments listed above is not exhaustive and the monitoring equipment that will be used for AB 617 may change depending on the project needs and CSC input. It should be noted that these resources will be used to satisfy the needs of all present and future AB 617 communities, and availability will depend on the specific air monitoring needs and objectives at each community, which is to be determined after consulting with each CSC.

Mobile Platforms

Mobile measurements can be conducted using real- or near-real-time instruments to allow for large-scale community air pollution mapping at a fraction of the cost of conventional approaches and at higher spatial and temporal resolution. This will allow community members and policy makers to better understand local exposure levels, identify potential sources of emissions and track changes over time, demonstrating effectiveness of emission and exposure reduction programs.

Mobile Platform #1: This is equipped with FRM and FEM and research-grade instruments to measure the mass and number concentrations of particulate matter (PM) of various sizes, BC, CO, NO₂, O₃, and methane. The time resolution of these air monitoring instruments range between 1 and 60 seconds. This mobile platform is a powerful tool for identifying areas most impacted by diesel PM emissions. It can also be used to identify diesel PM hotspots, estimate community exposure, estimate the exposure impact of transportation corridors and idling spots, and to track progress of targeted emission reduction strategies.

This mobile platform is also equipped with an anemometer and a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine wind speed and direction and to map vehicle location, speed and bearing during air quality measurements. Real-time data is logged and displayed on on-board monitors, allowing staff to rapidly detect potential emission sources and follow plumes of interest. It should be noted that although this platform is capable of detecting the ambient concentration of various air pollutants in real- or near-real time, it takes a few days to validate and process the collected information and visualize it for public consumption. A few pictures of this platform and the instruments configuration/set-up are shown in figures below.

Air Quality Monitors and Measured Pollutants in Mobile Platform #1

Mobile Platform #2: This platform is equipped with multiple advanced remote optical sensing (ORS) monitors that are capable of measuring a wide range of gaseous pollutants including air toxics (e.g. methane, non-methane VOCs, NO₂, SO₂, NH₃, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes) with time resolutions ranging between 1 and 30 seconds. Modern ORS techniques offer unique capabilities for monitoring trace gas emissions from point and area sources in near-real time. They are especially valuable for identifying leaks from fugitive emission sources, which are often extremely challenging to spot and/or quantify. This mobile platform is also equipped with a GPS for real-time recording of the position of the vehicle and onboard monitors for real-time data analysis and visualization. A Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR; which provides vertical wind profiles) instrument for wind profile measurements is often deployed in conjunction with this vehicle for emission rate measurements of VOCs from refineries and other industrial facilities. This state-of-the-art mobile laboratory will be utilized for accurate characterization of facility-wide emissions from industrial sources of VOC emissions on a real or near-real time basis, fenceline monitoring, leak detection and follow up, near-real-time concentration mapping, and estimation of community exposure to air toxics. Although this platform is capable of detecting the ambient concentration of various air pollutants in real- or near-real time, it takes a few days to validate and process the collected information and visualize it for the public. Pictures of this platform and the instruments configuration/set-up are shown in figure below.

Air Quality Monitors and Measured Pollutants Used in Mobile Platform #2

Mobile Platform #3: This platform is equipped with a state-of-the-art Proton Transfer Reaction – Mass Spectrometer (PTR-MS) capable of simultaneous real-time monitoring of hundreds of VOCs such as acetone, acetaldehyde, methanol, ethanol, benzene, xylenes and many others, including some inorganic compounds, present in ambient air. This is a fast response instrument (the time resolution spans from millisecond to 1-min) which has high sensitivity to low concentration of a wide range of VOCs (limit of detection (LOD) < 1 pptv). The high sensitivity of this mobile platform will allow the South Coast AQMD to respond to odor complaints, detect leaks or other potential sources of emissions (e.g. ports and ship emissions). Similar to the other two mobile platforms, real-time wind and position data will be measured and onboard computers will be used for real-time data analyses and visualization. Although this platform is capable of detecting the ambient concentration of various air pollutants in real- or near-real time, it takes a few days to validate and process the collected information and present the data visually.

Monitoring Trailers

Fixed air monitoring trailers will be placed at strategic locations to fully characterize emissions and community’s exposure (e.g. downwind of an identified air pollution source) to satisfy community specific air monitoring objectives. All fixed monitoring trailers available to the South Coast AQMD will be equipped with EPA approved instruments (i.e. FRM and/or FEM) and, if not commercially available, with state-of-the-at technology that is appropriate to measure the pollutant(s) of interest and for the intended purpose. They will be also equipped with wind measurement systems to better characterize and potentially locate the source(s) of the measured air pollutants. Table 6 summarizes the capabilities of the fixed monitoring trailers available for AB 617 deployment. It should be noted that these resources will be used to satisfy the needs of all present and future AB 617 community, and availability will depend on the specific air monitoring needs and objectives at each community, which is to be determined after consulting with the CSCs. The five monitoring trailers available to the South Coast AQMD will be outfitted with air monitoring instrumentation to address the specific air quality concerns of AB 617 communities. Trailers 1 and 2 have tentatively been assigned to the WCWLB community and their instrument configuration (as proposed in Table 6) seems adequate to fit the specific air monitoring needs of this community. The final instrument configuration for each trailer will be determined after consultation with the CSC.

Available Fixed Monitoring Trailers for Community Monitoring in All AB 617 Communities