NARSTO PAC2001: Cassiar Tunnel Air Quality Measurements for Vehicle Emissions

NARSTO_PAC2001_CASSIAR_TUNNEL_GAS_PM_DATA contains gaseous and particulate matter measurements from the Cassiar Tunnel in British Columbia, Canada. Data was collected from August 8-15, 2001 by the North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone (NARSTO) partnership to reduce uncertainty in mobile source emissions inventories. The study was part of the larger Pacific 2001 Air Quality Study conducted in the Lower Fraser Valley.

Use Cases

• Modeling mobile source emission inventories based on measured gas and particle concentrations.
• Comparing real-world vehicle emissions to laboratory tailpipe data based on the study's stated goal.
• Analyzing chemical profiles of primary particulate matter based on detailed composition measurements.
• Studying diurnal patterns of traffic-related pollutants based on measurements during rush hour peaks.

Strengths

• Measurements were taken from August 8-15, 2001, providing a focused temporal snapshot.
• Data includes multiple measurement techniques for several gases and particles as a check on accuracy.
• Physical and chemical properties of particles were measured in detail, including size distributions from 10 nm to 3 um.
• Site location is precisely specified at 49 17' 01.9 N, 123 01' 54.2 W, 40 m above sea level.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data reflects a specific geographic and temporal bias from a single tunnel study in August 2001.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Field measurements using instruments deployed at both ends of the Cassiar Tunnel.

Time Range

August 8-15, 2001

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:30:22.785417; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Cassiar Tunnel, Lower Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada