Geography

Geography

Woody Pattinson

Ph.D. Research Profile: Woody Pattinson

Relative influence of a six-lane motorway on the total daily air pollutant exposure of local residents

Contact details
Room:
Phone: +64 3 364 2987 ext. 4842
Fax: +64 3 364 2907
Email: woodroe.pattinson@pg.canterbury.ac.nz
Mail: Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

This project is being formed from two major monitoring campaigns in East Otahuhu and Mangere Bridge, South Auckland, during the autumn periods of 2010 and 2011. The Otahuhu phase, already completed earlier this year, is considered to be the largest monitoring campaign of its type ever conducted in New Zealand.
Three heavily-equipped stationary trailers were positioned at approximately 5, 150 (downwind) and 300 metres (upwind) from the motorway to capture pollutant concentration gradients for dominant wind directions, at distances typically deemed crucial to air toxin transport and behaviour.

Each trailer featured a meteorological station and remote communications facilities in addition to pollutant monitoring instruments which sampled carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), NOx – nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O2), particulate matter (PM1.0-PM10), ultrafine particles (UFPs) and BTEX volatile organic compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes). The primary trailer, located within 5 m of the motorway, also featured a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS); one of only two in Australasia, and a high volume sampler which collects particles on filters for laboratory elemental analysis.

Supplementing the monitoring trailers were thirty NO2 passive sampling sites within the study area, a residential house sampling both internally and externally (C0, CO2 and PM10), a customised car monitoring external air (black carbon, CO, CO2 and UFPs) and a portable kit (C0, CO2, UFPs and PM1.0-10) used for sampling on a bicycle, inside vehicles and by foot. The next campaign at Mangere Bridge will be designed to replicate the Otahuhu study as closely as possible. From this data, a number of models will be developed and validated, including a roadside corridor emissions model and regression models that will potentially predict expected annual mean concentrations for any location where traffic data is available.   

While there are many overseas studies reporting long-term elevated pollutant levels near motorways and a multitude of associated health risks, a study of this type has not yet been carried out in New Zealand. Furthermore, most existing roadside health studies fail to consider personal travel movements, accounting only for the proximity of residence or work/study place. This project will also simulate a number of ’24 hour exposure profiles’, made up from variables such as location of residence, time spent at home, workplace location, occupation, common travel routes, transport mode and so on. Information needed to incorporate such variables into a model will be derived from extensive datasets collected during the field campaigns. Further sampling in specific occupations, such as courier driving and construction work is yet to be carried out. The end result will hopefully be a model where 24 hourly, weekly, monthly and annual mean personal exposure to urban air pollution can be roughly predicted based on time spent in common environments. This will be able to be extended to entire local populations (requires surveying) and, if feasible, results will provide insight into possible mitigation measures; either at a personal or community level.      

This research will highlight the comparative degree to which variables other than proximity to highways are important. It’s plausible that even when living directly next to high-capacity motorways, overall exposure may be less than that of someone who lives in a clean air zone but spends considerable time commuting on the motorway each day. This work could pave the foundations for setting national environmental standards for personal urban air pollutant exposure – standards that have not yet been implemented anywhere in the world.

Project Supervisors:

Awards:

  • George Jobberns Prize in Geography for the most outstanding research submitted by Masters candidates in 2009
  • The 2010 Ministry of Transport Award for outstanding achievement at Masters level, in a research project, dissertation or thesis

Research Interests:

  • Urban air pollutant exposure
  • Sustainable transport systems
  • Consumerism and society
  • Landscapes of excessive consumption
  • Localised economies
  • Social network sites and green ideas  

Other Interests:

  • Snowboarding
  • Aviation
  • Coins, banknotes and phonecards
  • Community gardening
  • Marine aquaculture

Publications/Conference Papers:

Pattinson W, Longley I, Kingham S, Salmond, J, 2011, Cyclist exposure to traffic pollution: microscale variance, the impact of route choice and comparisons to other modal choices in two New Zealand cities. CASANZ 2011: 20th International Clean Air and Environment Conference. 4th – 8th July 2011. Christchurch, New Zealand.  

Longley I, Olivares G, Harper S, Kingham S, Pattinson W, Dirks K, 2011, A multi-method assessment of the impact of road traffic on local air quality in Auckland. CASANZ 2011: 20th International Clean Air and Environment Conference. 4th – 8th July 2011. Christchurch, New Zealand.  

Kingham S, Pattinson W, Longley I, Salmond J, 2010, Traffic exposure and modal choice: a New Zealand case study. 2010 Joint Conference of International Society of Exposure Science & International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Seoul, Korea, 28th Aug - 1st Sept 2010.

Kingham S, Longley I, Salmond J, Shrestha K, Pattinson W, Liu, H, 2010, The impact of choice of transport mode on personal pollution exposure. Presentation to the IPENZ Transportation Conference. March 14th -17th,
2010, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Kingham S, Longley I, Salmond J, Shrestha K, Pattinson W, 2009, Determination of personal exposure to traffic pollution while travelling by different modes. CASANZ 2009: 19th International Clean Air and Environment Conference. 6th – 9th Sept 2009. Perth, Australia.