A Long-Term Comparison between the AethLabs MA350 and Aerosol Magee Scientific AE33 Black Carbon Monitors in the Greater Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• black carbon
• aethalometer
• AethLabs MA350
• Aerosol Magee Scientific AE33
• biomass
• fossil fuel