Transit-mounted air quality monitors – Global Change & Sustainability Center

Researchers in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences are studying air quality by mounting monitors on city buses. Logan Mitchell and GCSC affiliate John Lin are PIs on this project. They have been taking readings from monitors mounted on TRAX light rail cars since 2014. Buses cover a wider range of Salt Lake City, and will give researchers a more granular look at emissions in the valley. This study will examine the relationship between primary combustion and secondary pollutants, and will also accelerate our fundamental understanding of urban atmospheric chemistry. This project will increase understanding of the spatiotemporal and sectoral changes in emissions, how changes in primary combustion affected secondary air pollutants, and what the urban atmospheric implications are for policies that target emission reductions.