Aerosol monitoring sites collect data in the aftermath of the city’s fire.

On January 9, about 11 specialty devices in the foot hill area of ​​Altadena, north of Caltech Campus, California, and about 11 mile pico -rivera shipping containers south. It was detected with miles. It is known that both air concentration, especially chlorine and lead spikes, are both low and toxic. At the maximum of the day, the chlorine level reached about 40 times the normal amount, reaching the peak of more than 100 times the normal level.

It was not a coincidence that the air analytical device was running during the fire and immediately after the fire. In fact, they operate 365 days a year 24 hours a day.

Since July 2023, Caltech has supervised the Pico Rivera location known as the 12 -site network, air sciences and chemical measurement networks. NGA Lee (Sally) NG, Ph.D from Georgia Institute of Technology. The ASCENT, which is managed by, is designed to continue monitoring particle -like substances in the air and grasp more complete paintings between changing chemical composition and physical characteristics. These aerosols.

“This network exists because we hope for high -resolution high -resolution characteristics of the excellent particle -like substances,” said Hallowa Bariaka, a graduate student in California, who supported the establishment of mountain climbing with his graduates Ryanword. I will explain. A device in a transport container co -home co -home at the South Coast Automatic Management District (SCAQMD).

“When the Canadian fire broke out last year, the rise in New York was very important because I received an elderly plume a few days later, and now we are getting data on Eaton Fire,” said Bariaka. Masu.

Immediately after the fire in Los Angeles, the wind was mostly blew south, pushing the plume directly from the Eaton Fire in the direction of the Picolibella Cent station. Therefore, scientists believe that the collected data is mostly related to Eaton Fire.

The spike that the instrument was detected a few days after the fire is more magnificently higher than usual, but it is important to put the data into some context. Lead and chlorine are known as trace elements in the air because they stay within the ventilated nanogram range. After a few days after the fire, they reached the level of the micrograph per cubic meter.

However, Barria was “in 2010, the measured lead concentration was higher than what I saw after the fire for lead gas, for example. Thankfully, we are now accustomed to the cleanness of the air. “

The Data of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicates that air -leading levels have decreased by 98 % between 1980 and 2014 due to regulations, including the removal of gasoline.

Caltech scientists pay attention to the fact that the element measurement detected on the Pico Rivera site has returned to the normal level. Live data from the site is now available online.

The impressive feature of the data is that there is no typical signature of the wildfire for the existing elements, Professor of Richard Hulgan, Irma, Ross Maccolm William H. Corcan and Corcan, Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering. A co -investigator of the Picolibella Acent Site, a professor of John Signiferd, Louis E.ol Chemistry, and honor.

“The study for several decades has created a very clear signature on how the wildfire looks like,” says Fragan. For example, potassium, which is important for the life of plants, is usually used as a biomass combustion tracer. However, following the Eaton fire, the potassium level was hidden by an unexpected element.

“Our data provides a clear signature that this is not a wildfire event. This is a fire in the city and is very different from the air pollution.”

An important feature of Assent Network is that all 12 places can be compared throughout the country using the same suite of four devices under the same operation protocol.

One of the instruments called the Scammobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) was invented by Flagan. It gives a complete distribution of the particle size detected over time. Initially, when a fire broke out, the SMPS data indicated that the concentration of submichlon particles decreases because the strong winds clean the air. However, when the wind calmed down a little and the air from the fire reached Picolibella, the concentration and size of the fine particles increased significantly.

“If the smoke reaches Picolibella a few days after the fire, you can see that the total amount of aerosol has a significant increase,” says Vine Blankenship, a graduate student of Caltech, focusing on SMPS data.

“There is a clear statistical relationship between aerosol, which is known as a polarized substance smaller than 2.5 microns, PM2.5, but has health and health.

He pointed out that 20 -year data collection is required, from the definition of PM2.5 in the late 1970s to the establishment of the statistical health -related related to the EPA to incorporate PM2.5 into air quality standards. I am.

“Generally, there is no detailed level required to create these relevances in air quality measurement, all of which were collected by a network built by a research team to understand the effects of air pollution. He explains that this is important.

Ascension data has gained interest in many aviation -quality researchers and institutions. Other organizations have already come to the Pico Rivera site and collect data with additional devices. SCAQMD currently has two additional aerosol measurement stations to capture additional data points.