Full Citation

Title: Daily Satellite Observations of Nitrogen Dioxide Air Pollution Inequality in New York City, New York and Newark, New Jersey: Evaluation and Application

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2022

ISBN:

ISSN: 15205851

DOI: 10.1021/ACS.EST.2C02828/ASSET/IMAGES/LARGE/ES2C02828_0006.JPEG

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID: 36224708

Abstract: Urban air pollution disproportionately harms communities of color and low-income communities in the U.S. Intraurban nitrogen dioxide (NO2) inequalities can be observed from space using the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). Past research has relied on time-averaged measurements, limiting our understanding of how neighborhood-level NO2 inequalities co-vary with urban air quality and climate. Here, we use fine-scale (250 m × 250 m) airborne NO2 remote sensing to demonstrate that daily TROPOMI observations resolve a major portion of census tract-scale NO2 inequalities in the New York City-Newark urbanized area. Spatiotemporally coincident TROPOMI and airborne inequalities are well correlated (r = 0.82-0.97), with slopes of 0.82-1.05 for relative and 0.76-0.96 for absolute inequalities for different groups. We calculate daily TROPOMI NO2 inequalities over May 2018-September 2021, reporting disparities of 25-38% with race, ethnicity, and/or household income. Mean daily inequalities agree with results based on TROPOMI measurements oversampled to 0.01° × 0.01° to within associated uncertainties. Individual and mean daily TROPOMI NO2 inequalities are largely insensitive to pixel size, at least when pixels are smaller than ∼60 km2, but are sensitive to low observational coverage. We statistically analyze daily NO2 inequalities, presenting empirical evidence of the systematic overburdening of communities of color and low-income neighborhoods with polluting sources, regulatory ozone co-benefits, and worsened NO2 inequalities and cumulative NO2 and urban heat burdens with climate change.

Url: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.2c02828?cookieSet=1

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Authors: Dressel, Isabella M.; Demetillo, Mary Angelique G.; Judd, Laura M.; Janz, Scott J.; Fields, Kimberly P.; Sun, Kang; Fiore, Arlene M.; McDonald, Brian C.; Pusede, Sally E.

Periodical (Full): Environmental Science and Technology

Issue: 22

Volume: 56

Pages: 15298-15311

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Land Use/Urban Organization, Natural Resource Management

Countries: