Sensors, Vol. 24, Pages 965: A Long-Term Comparison between the AethLabs MA350 and Aerosol Magee Scientific AE33 Black Carbon Monitors in the Greater Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area

Sensors, Vol. 24, Pages 965: A Long-Term Comparison between the AethLabs MA350 and Aerosol Magee Scientific AE33 Black Carbon Monitors in the Greater Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area

Sensors doi: 10.3390/s24030965

Authors: Daniel L. Mendoza L. Drew Hill Jeffrey Blair Erik T. Crosman

Black carbon (BC) or soot contains ultrafine combustion particles that are associated with a wide range of health impacts, leading to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Both long-term and short-term health impacts of BC have been documented, with even low-level exposures to BC resulting in negative health outcomes for vulnerable groups. Two aethalometers—AethLabs MA350 and Aerosol Magee Scientific AE33—were co-located at a Utah Division of Air Quality site in Bountiful, Utah for just under a year. The aethalometer comparison showed a close relationship between instruments for IR BC, Blue BC, and fossil fuel source-specific BC estimates. The biomass source-specific BC estimates were markedly different between instruments at the minute and hour scale but became more similar and perhaps less-affected by high-leverage outliers at the daily time scale. The greater inter-device difference for biomass BC may have been confounded by very low biomass-specific BC concentrations during the study period. These findings at a mountainous, high-elevation, Greater Salt Lake City Area site support previous study results and broaden the body of evidence validating the performance of the MA350.