Project by Nicole Ngo:
There is concern over the public health issues concerning black carbon (BC), a species of particulate matter. One major source of BC in urban areas is vehicles that use diesel, such as trucks or buses. To examine population exposure, studies have used data from monitors that measure background pollution, since they are cheaper than having individuals carry around monitors. Though, there’s evidence that BC decays quickly from sources, such as roadways. As a result, monitors may not properly capture population exposure. To better understand if monitors are capturing some trend from the road or pure noise, I use the Clean Fuel Bus Program in NYC to see if variations in types of buses (e.g., diesel buses, hybrid buses, CNG buses) along bus routes by monitors are captured by the monitors.