Exposure Assessment with the Urban Exposure Management Tool—Case Study Oslo

MS8-05 Abstract: Urban air pollution is of concern because of its negative impact on human health. Generally, there is a focus on ambient air quality, although people in urban areas spend most of their time indoors. Within the framework of the EU project Urban Exposure, a management tool was developed that allows the calculation of personal exposure to particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5, PM1) in most common microenvironments outdoors and indoors. Ambient particle concentrations are calculated with an established air-quality management system (AirQUIS). Indoor concentrations are calculated based on ambient concentrations taking into account house age and size as well as ventilation rate. Predefined indoor sources can be applied in indoor environments. In addition to concentration levels, respiratory deposition in each microenvironment and deposition (hourly, daily) can be calculated depending on activity level and personal characteristics. In this context, a case for a male adults working downtown and living in the outskirts of the city near a major road are presented. Calculations are representative of a spring day in Oslo, Norway. The impact of different indoor sources, location, and activity level on exposure and respiratory deposition in different scenarios are displayed. Results show that indoor concentrations without indoor sources are in general considerably lower than outdoor concentrations. This is particularly true for PM10, whereas PM2.5 and PM1 are much less reduced indoors. Introducing indoor sources, indoor concentrations of PM can become comparable to or even higher than outdoor concentrations. Respiratory deposition is increasing with increased concentration level and activity. Especially heavy exercise in high pollution can have a great effect on the daily respiratory deposition. To describe possible health effects, daily average concentrations for the study case were compared with daily average concentrations at monitoring stations the same day. Generally, concentration levels for PM10 were higher at the monitoring stations than in the scenarios, whereas the PM2.5 concentrations were comparable. Indoor concentrations are crucial for concentration levels in the scenarios because the person spends a considerable time of the day indoors. A more comprehensive version of the tool could be used to calculate statistical distribution of exposure in a city (epidemiologic studies), to identify most important sources both indoor and outdoor (health strategies), and in planning and evaluating measures from a health perspective.