Title: Inter-comparison of predicted population exposure distributions during four selected episodes in Helsinki and evaluation against measured data

Authors: Otto Hanninen, Mari Kauhaniemi, Ari Karppinen, Jaakko Kukkonen, Anu Kousa, Matti Jantunen

Addresses: National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Department of Environmental Health, P.B. 95, FI-70701 Kuopio, Finland. ' Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), P.B. 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland. ' Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Erik Palmenin aukio 1, P.B. 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland. ' Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Erik Palmenin aukio 1, P.B. 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland. ' Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV), Regional and Environmental Office, P.B. 521, FI-00521 Helsinki, Finland. ' National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Department of Environmental Health, P.B. 95, FI-70701 Kuopio, Finland

Abstract: Air pollution causes significant excess mortality and health effects. Action plans required by the EU legislation should optimally account for the complex interactions of population distributions, time-activity and the sources of air pollution. This paper presents FUMAPEX study results on probabilistic exposure modelling for evaluation of population exposure distributions during selected episodes in Helsinki. The air quality model characterised best the episodes of local origin, while highest exposures occurred during a long-range transported episode (average annual exposures exceeded three-fold). Fixed monitoring data represented different population exposure percentiles (from 65th to 95th) depending on the episode type and monitoring station.

Keywords: population exposure; exposure distribution; air pollution; particulate matter; PM2.5; long-range transportation; inversion; wildfire; action plan; policy; air quality; Helsinki; Finland; exposure modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2010.030897

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2010 Vol.40 No.1/2/3, pp.248 - 266

Published online: 11 Jan 2010 *

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