Air Quality Research Center

The Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network measures the chemical composition of atmospheric particulate matter at over 160 locations throughout the United States. As part of the routine quality control process, we noted decreases in the network-wide vanadium (V) and nickel (Ni) concentrations in 2015 relative to the previous years. Enriched V and Ni with respect to soil are indicative of heavy fuel oil burning and are often used as tracers for emissions from marine vessels.

> Up to 41 percent of smog-forming NOx emissions in state comes from agricultural soils in the Central Valley

> Rural farming communities most affected

> Potential solutions include precision agriculture, slow-release fertilizers

> Work already underway to reduce nitrate in groundwater could also help reduce NOx emissions

> As transportation emissions fall, other oil-based products contribute more to air pollution

> Consumer products can cause high levels of indoor air pollution

> New study closes gab between predictions and data

Article published by Andy Fell on February 15, 2018 in Environment