STUDY OF CHILDREN’S EXPOSURE TO AIR POLLUTION IN THE METROPOLITAN REGION OF VITÓRIA

Name: Yasmin Kaore Lago Kitagawa
Type: PhD thesis
Publication date: 28/06/2022
Advisor:

Namesort descending Role
Davidson Martins Moreira Advisor *

Examining board:

Namesort descending Role
Davidson Martins Moreira Advisor *
Erick Giovani Sperandio Nascimento Co advisor *
Gilberto Fernando Fisch External Examiner *
Jane Meri Santos Internal Examiner *
Luiz Claudio Gomes Pimentel External Examiner *
Taciana Toledo de Almeida Albuquerque Internal Examiner *

Summary: This study estimates exposure and inhaled dose to air pollutants of children residing in a tropical
coastal-urban area, namely the Metropolitan Region of Vitória (MRV), highly influenced by
industrial and urban emissions, located in Southeast Brazil. The air pollutant concentration data
were provided by the chemistry and transport Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ)
model together with the Integrated Source Apportionment Method (ISAM) tool. The
simulations were performed over three months (November/2019, December/2019, and
February/2020) using a local inventory, which was processed by the Sparse Matrix Operator
Kernel Emission (SMOKE). The meteorological fields were provided by the Weather Research
and Forecasting (WRF-Urban) model while the boundary (BCON) and initial (ICON)
conditions were performed by the global atmospheric chemistry model GEOS-Chem.
Sensitivity analyses were conducted to investigate the relationship between air pollutant
concentrations and the configuration of the lowest model level height (z = 4 m, z = 10 m, z =
20 m) using the multi-layer urban canopy model BEP (Building Effect Parameterisation),
totalizing nine simulations for each model. Once the air pollutant concentrations were predicted
by the numerical modelling system, the personal exposure was calculated using information
from the time-activities diaries of the children, and I/O ratios were also employed to consider
the amount of time they spent indoors. In total, eight exposure scenarios were assessed, one
was using data from the fixed monitoring station nearby children’s residences, and three used
the CMAQ model. In addition, each one considered two approaches (i) assuming no indoor
correction and (ii) using I/O values to represent differences between indoor and outdoor
concentrations. The scenarios were compared with NO2 personal monitors (12.3±5.1 µg/m3
)
worn by twenty-one children and revealed that the use of I/O correction benefitted exposure
results using the monitoring station (9.3±2.7 µg/m3
). On the other hand, it has not benefitted
exposure results using the CMAQ model, in which the most suitable performance was found
with the configuration z = 20 m without I/O adjustment (15.9±2.0 µg/m3
). The exposures to O3,
PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 were qualitatively estimated since there were no personal observations.
Nevertheless, the results were presented comparing both indirect methods (monitoring station
and model). The dose assessment considered two approaches for PM2.5 and PM1, namely the
average daily potential dose (ADDpot) and the respiratory deposition dose (RDD). The inhaled
dose intake by boys tended to be higher than girls because boys usually breathe faster than girls.
However, the results showed how this assessment is highly influenced by personal data (e.g.
age, gender, respiratory parameters, and physical activities). Finally, the source apportionment
7
assessment revealed that the greatest contributors to children’s exposure were the boundary
conditions, the vehicular exhausts, the industrial point sources, the shipping sector, and the road
dust resuspension, suggesting that emissions control policies have to integrate different levels
of government. In conclusion, the exposure of children to air pollutants estimated by the
numerical model in this work was comparable to other studies found in the literature, showing
one of the advantages of using the modelling approach since some air pollutants are poorly
spatially represented and/or are not routinely monitored by environmental agencies in many
regions. Additionally, the ISAM showed to be a powerful tool that could aid local, state, and
federal authorities to make decisions.

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