Smog => lung damage

[WillStewart]

How do you determine when you will bike commute on a given with an ozone alert and when you will refrain?

At an air quality index of 50-90;

Sensitive people may experience irritation when breathing and possible lung damage when
physically active; people with heart/lung disorders at greater risk

(Fine Particulate Effects)
People with respiratory disease should limit prolonged exertion;general population at some risk

At 100+:

Serious respiratory effects, even during light physical activity; people with heart/lung disorders at high risk;

(Fine Particulate Effects)
Serious respiratory effects even during light physical activity; people with heart disease, the elderly and children at high risk;
increased risk for general population

Today, for example;

The combination of temperatures in the low to mid 90s along with
high moisture content will cause heat index values to be between
100 and 105 degrees through late this afternoon. After 6
PM… heat index values will decrease into the upper 90s.

Your approach to this?

Topic

[WillStewart]

@Brendan von Buckingham 6017 wrote:

There’s all sorts of things in urban air. Professionally I work with historic architecture and old buildings. Went to a seminar on historic masonry. When they clean masonry buildings of decades worth of grime, guess what the number one contaminant is. Rubber. Rubber from millions of tires slowly wearing away, every day.

Good point, Brendan.

“Particulate Matter, or PM-2.5, refers to tiny particles that are smaller than 2.5 microns (smaller than the width of a human hair). Particulate matter has several sources including dirt kicked up into the air on paved and unpaved roads, tires and brake linings as they wear down, smoke, vehicle tailpipe emissions, and earth moving activities. Because particulate matter is so very tiny, it easily bypasses your lung’s protective systems.”

http://www.tmacog.org/airqualityfacts.htm

Methodology to Calculate Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 and PM 2.5 CEQA Significance Thresholds

“Particles in the PM2.5 size range are able to travel deeply into the respiratory tract, reaching the lungs. Exposure to fine particles can cause short-term health effects such as eye, nose, throat and lung irritation, coughing, sneezing, runny nose and shortness of breath. Exposure to fine particles can also affect lung function and worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease. Scientific studies have linked increases in daily PM2.5 exposure with increased respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions, emergency department visits and deaths. Studies also suggest that long term exposure to fine particulate matter may be associated with increased rates of chronic bronchitis, reduced lung function and increased mortality from lung cancer and heart disease.”

http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/indoors/air/pmq_a.htm

Wearing an effective mask while bike commuting significant distances on high pollution days is looking more and more appropriate.

[baiskeli]

@WillStewart 6056 wrote:

Wearing an effective mask while bike commuting significant distances on high pollution days is looking more and more appropriate.

That brings up another question – aren’t most days going to be bad for particulates? The heat probably doesn’t affect them like it does ozone. I would think that unless it’s raining or just rained, most days would have particulates floating around.

[DaveK]

Today’s heat – brain damage. If you catch someone riding around singing Winter Wonderland that’ll be me.

[WillStewart]

@baiskeli 6145 wrote:

That brings up another question – aren’t most days going to be bad for particulates? The heat probably doesn’t affect them like it does ozone. I would think that unless it’s raining or just rained, most days would have particulates floating around.

Good question. If you look at the daily data over the year, it seems that PM 2.5 pollution correlates to temperature, at least weakly;
http://air.mwcog.org/index.cfm?selYear=2011&selMonth=1

Make sure Particulate Matter is selected and keep hitting “Next Month” to see how it progresses through this year (to date).

[Dirt]

@DaveK 6153 wrote:

Today’s heat – brain damage. If you catch someone riding around singing Winter Wonderland that’ll be me.

I used Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer this morning. I felt very comfy and cool in my own personal dream world.

[ronwalf]

@WillStewart 6155 wrote:

Good question. If you look at the daily data over the year, it seems that PM 2.5 pollution correlates to temperature, at least weakly;

Look at February 19th, 2011. It seems particulate matter has a strong correlation with major fires :0
http://www.mde.state.md.us/programs/Air/AirQualityMonitoring/Documents/EEPetition_20110219_Final.pdf
(skip the boring text, just look at the pictures)

[Greenbelt]

I’m just now going through all the great air quality links on this thread — thanks everyone.

If it wasn’t mentioned before, this is the one I’ve been using. I like the animation tab thingy: http://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local_city&cityid=268

[Author]

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