Chemical Characterization of Ambient Particulate Matter near the World Trade Center: Elemental Carbon, Organic Carbon, and Mass Reconstruction

Concentrations of elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon matter (OM), particulate matter less than 2.5 microm (PM2.5), reconstructed soil, trace element oxides, and sulfate are reported from four locations near the World Trade Center (WTC) complex for airborne particulate matter (PM) samples collected from September 2001 through January 2002. Across the four sampling sites, daily mean concentrations ranged from 1.5 to 6.8 microg/m3 for EC, from 10.2 to 31.4 microg/m3 for OM, and from 22.6 to 66.2 microg/m3 for PM2.5. Highest concentrations of PM species were generally measured north and west of the WTC complex. Total carbon matter and sulfate constituted the largest fraction of reconstructed PM2.5 concentrations. Concentrations of PM species across all sites decreased from the period when fires were present at the WTC complex (before December 19, 2001) to the period after the fires. Averaged over all sites, concentrations decreased by 25.6 microg/m3 for PM2.5, 2.7 microg/m3 for EC, and 9.2 microg/m3 for OM from the fire period to after fire period.