Particulates Particulates is the term given to the tiny particles of solid or semi-solid material found in the atmosphere.
Carbon Monoxide Carbon Monoxide is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas.
Ozone Ozone is an extremely reactive gas comprised of three atoms of oxygen.
Photochemical Assessment Monitoring There are four different types of PAMS sites, each serving a specific monitoring purpose: a Type 1 is upwind of the urban area and represents background concentrations coming into the area; a Type 2 is on the downwind fringe of the urban area and represents maximum precursor concentrations from the area; and a Type 4 is at extreme downwind location to represent long-range transport from the area.
Nitrogen Dioxide Nitrogen Dioxide, in its pure state, is a reddish-orange brown gas with a characteristic pungent odor.
Lead Lead in the ambient air exists primarily as particulate matter in the inhalable size range.
Sulfates and Nitrates Sulfates and Nitrates are compounds of varying harmfulness found everywhere in the atmosphere.
Air Toxics & Hazardous Air Pollutants Air toxics (AT) refers to a broad group of air contaminants that, in sufficient concentration, could cause serious health effects to people breathing air that contains them. Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) refers to a specific subset of Air Toxics, namely the 188 air pollutants that are listed as Hazardous Air Pollutants under Section 112(b) of the Federal Clean Air Act.
Atmospheric Deposition Atmospheric deposition can be a major source of air pollution. Contaminants can travel large distances from their origins to become pollution problems in other states and nations.
Ultraviolet-B Ultraviolet-b is a part of the radiation reaching the earth's surface from the sun.
Meteorology Weather plays a major role in short term air quality concentrations and long term air quality trends.
variety of ambient air monitoring equipment around the state. Some of these instruments operate on a continuous basis and provide hourly averages of pollutants or meteorological data that is used in the evaluation of the air pollutant data. Data may also be collected over a twenty-four hour period such as particulates or it may be collected as a composite over an entire week. Examples of the latter are the atmospheric and mercury deposition monitoring programs. The number of monitoring sites and the pollutants that are monitored may vary from year to year depending on the expected concentrations of the pollutants, the origin of the pollutants and new programs based on changes in existing regulations or the establishment of new regulations.