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8/2006
The
intensive portion of the second Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS II) began in
early August through September 2006.
Aircraft
will be sampling throughout Texas for these two months. Much of the work
will be in and near the major metropolitan areas including Dallas-Fort Worth and
Houston. The type of work and flights will be similar to past seasons of
TCEQ Aircraft Based Monitoring flights.
For
response to questions, please contact
Doug
Boyer
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Air Quality Planning & Implementation Division
(512) 239-1523
dboyer@tceq.state.tx.us
TexAQS
II Links:
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/air/airmod/texaqs-files/TexAQS_II.html
http://esrl.noaa.gov/csd/2006/
http://www.utexas.edu/research/ceer/texaqsII/
5/2006
TexAQS II 2006 Emission
Fly-Over
The Texas "air pollution research
community," being led by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ),
reports that during August and September of this year they will conduct a
comprehensive field campaign in Eastern Texas.
This will utilize a G-1 aircraft outfitted with research equipment and
owned by DOE for approximately 75 hours of flight time over a one-month period. This translates to 20-25 flights and 15,000 air miles.
During "pollution episodes," the plans call for two 3-hour
flights daily. Each flight is
planned to include at least one east-west transit of the Ship Canal and the I-10
urban industrial corridor.
Focus
will be on obtaining "concentration ratios of VOCs relative to NOx and SO2”
which are said to represent typical emission inventories.
Equipment on board is claimed to give real time measurements of select
hydrocarbons, including aromatics and terpenes with high aerosol yields.
With such data, TCEQ plans to amend flight plans to further observe
"interesting emission regions."
Flights
will incorporate multiple traverses at different distances from observed plumes.
An additional focus during this study will be on ozone formation rates.
The results of the 2006 research will be compared to analyses from a pool
of 2000 fly-over data to assess "any discernable changes due to emissions
reductions" since that time.
In the 2000 study, the observed emission rate
of NOx was found comparable to that reported by the state.
However, the measured ratio of C2= (ethylene) and C3= (propylene) to NOx
were consistently higher than the Texas emission inventory by more than an order
of magnitude. An objective of the
2006 study will be to improve the estimates of the hydrocarbon-to-NOx emission
ratios, particularly in the Houston Ship Channel region.
In parallel, determination of the emission rates by several independent
measurement approaches is scheduled to "build confidence ... in the
understanding of emission rates of reactive hydrocarbons by petrochemical
facilities."
TCEQ
has shown particular interest in barge emissions during their 2000 campaign.
It is unclear how results from the 2006 campaign might come to impact
industry.
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