Changes in Fine PM Pollution Levels with Tightening of Regulations on Vehicle Emissions

Authors: Akihiro Iijima, Kimiyo Kumagai

Abstract:

A long-term campaign for monitoring the concentration of atmospheric Particulate Matter (PM) was conducted at multiple sites located in the center and suburbs of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area in Japan. The concentration of fine PM has shown a declining trend over the last two decades. A positive matrix factorization model elucidated that the contribution of combustion sources was drastically reduced. In Japan, the regulations on vehicle exhaust emissions were phased in and gradually tightened over the last two decades, which has triggered a notable reduction in PM emissions from automobiles and has contributed to the mitigation of the problem of fine PM pollution.

Keywords: Air pollution, Diesel-powered vehicle, Positive matrix factorization, Receptor modeling.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1063162

References:

[1] Ministry of the Environment, Japan, Annual Report on the Environment, the Sound Material-Cycle Society and the Biodiversity in Japan 2012, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo: Ministry of the Environment, Japan, 2012.
[2] D. W. Dockery, C. A. Pope, X. Xu, J. D. Spengler, J. H. Ware, M. E. Fay, G. G. Ferris, and F. E. Speizer, "An association between air pollution and mortality in six U.S. cities," N. Engl. J. Med., vol. 329, pp. 1753-1759, 1993.
[3] S. Wakamatsu, "Overseas trends of PM2.5 and future challenges in measurement, monitoring and componential analysis," J. Jpn. Soc. Atmos. Environ., vol. 46, pp. 77-83.
[4] A. Iijima, G. Shimizu, and K. Kozawa, "Characterization of atmospheric aerosols in Kanto air basin," in Proc. 50th Annu. Meeting of Jpn. Soc. Atmos. Environ., Yokohama, 2009, p. 466.
[5] A. Iijima, H. Tago, K. Kumagai, M. Kato, K. Kozawa, K. Sato, and N. Furuta, "Regional and seasonal characteristics of emission sources of fine airborne particulate matter collected in the center and suburbs of Tokyo, Japan as determined by multielement analysis and source receptor models," J. Environ. Monit., vol. 10, pp. 1025-1032, 2008.
[6] P. Paatero and U. Tapper, "Positive matrix factorization: a non-negative factor model with optimal utilization of error estimates of data values," Environmetrics, vol. 5, pp. 111-126, 1994.
[7] A. V. Polissar, P. K. Hopke, P. Paatero, W. C. Malm, and J. F. Sisler, "Atmospheric aerosol over Alaska 2: Elemental composition and sources," J. Geophys. Res., vol. 103, pp. 19045-19057.
[8] P. Paatero and P. H. Hopke, "Discarding of downweighting high-noise variables in factor analytic models," Anal. Chim. Acta, vol. 490, pp. 227-289.