Spatial Variability of Unpaved Road Dust PM₁₀ Emission Factors near El Paso, Texas

Abstract

The testing re-entrained aerosol kinetic emissions from roads technique is compared with distance-based emission factors (EFs; g/VKT) measured downwind of a dirt road by using towers instrumented with real-time meteorological and particle sensors at multiple heights. The emission potential (EP), defined as the EF divided by the vehicle speed (m/sec), and weight index permits the intercomparison of emissions from multiple roadways surveyed by the TRAKER vehicle. A survey of 72 km of unpaved roads on the Ft. Bliss Military Base near El Paso, Texas, indicated that 60% of all measured EPs fell between 6.7 (g/VKT)/(m/sec) and 9.6 (g/VKT)/(m/sec). The EP measured across the base was approximately 50% lower than those collected in the vicinity of the instrumented towers. This implies that EFs measured for other vehicles on the same test section should be reduced by 50% to more accurately represent EFs for the entire military base. Using geographic information system-based soil maps, the inferred EFs are related to differences in soil types over the survey area. Variations among five different soil types accounted for <10% of variation in EP. Individual measurements using the testing re-entrained aerosol kinetic emissions from roads technique did show larger spatial variations in EP; however, these were not effectively captured by the soil classifications, partly because of the comparatively coarse spatial classification used in the soil survey data.