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  • Presentation | A51C: Air Pollution and Well-Being: Bridging Surface, Space, and Modeling Studies II Oral
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  • A51C-03: Estimates of submicron particulate matter (PM1) concentrations for 1998–2022 across the contiguous USA: leveraging measurements of PM1 with nationwide PM2·5 component data
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Author(s):
Chi Li, Washington University in St Louis (First Author, Presenting Author)
Randall Martin, Washington University in St. Louis
Aaron van Donkelaar, Washington University in St. Louis
Jose Jimenez, University of Colorado Boulder
Qi Zhang, University of California Davis
Jay Turner, Washington University in St. Louis
Xuan LIU, Washington University in St. Louis
Mark Rowe, Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency
Jun Meng, Washington State University
Wuyue Yu, New York University Grossman School of Medicine
George Thurston, New York University Grossman School of Medicine


Tiny particles in the air, called fine particulate matter (PM2.5), are known to harm human health. Even smaller particles—those less than 1 micron in diameter (PM1)—may pose greater health risks, while the United States has lacked long-term data on PM1 levels to explore these effects. Our study addresses this gap by estimating PM1 concentrations at a high spatial resolution (1 km²) across the entire contiguous U.S. from 1998 to 2022.


Our results show that PM1 levels vary widely across the country, with higher pollutions in the eastern U.S., cities, industrial areas, and regions affected by wildfires. In 2022, PM1 was primarily composed of organic matter, sulfate, nitrate, black carbon, and ammonium. Our estimates closely matched direct ground-based measurements and had relatively low uncertainty for most of the population.


We also found that PM1 levels have significantly decreased over time, largely due to reductions in pollution from improved air quality regulations. PM1 made up a large share of the overall decline in PM2.5 pollution, suggesting that PM1 plays a major role in air pollution trends and should be more directly studied and monitored for its potential health impacts. PM1 should be a key priority in future air quality research and policymaking.




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