# Characterizing Urban- and Finer-Scale Spatial Variability for Select VOC Superfund Compounds

> **NIH NIH P42** · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · 2021 · $11,892

## Abstract

SUMMARY – Project 4
 Hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOC) have adverse impacts on human health.
These compounds likely exhibit high spatial variability in urban areas because of the numerous
emission sources (e.g. industrial, commercial, residential, traffic) and complex dispersion
patterns. Thus, tools are needed to characterize the small-area variation of intra-urban VOC
concentrations. Land use regression (LUR) modeling is a powerful tool for assessing spatial
variability. It relies upon ambient measurements at a large number of sites and has been
extensively used for pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. However,
relatively few studies have built LUR models for VOCs and in most cases the focus was traffic–
related emissions of benzene and other compounds emitted by vehicles. Mobile platform
measurements have recently been used to collect air quality data for LUR model-building.
However, mobile monitoring of VOCs has not been used in LUR modeling because of
measurement challenges. This project will develop a portable VOC monitor suitable for mobile
platform measurements. Field studies will be conducted at urban- and neighborhood scales and
the VOC data will be used for LUR model-building. LUR results will be used by another Center
project to evaluate relationships between ambient VOCs and cardiometabolic disease. LUR
results will also be used to examine relationships between VOC air quality and proximity to
green space which might be an effective VOC remediation strategy. New tools will be
developed to use mobile platform measurements to identify the location and strength of
emission sources. This project is closely coupled to the Center’s primary objective to examine
cardiometabolic effects of exposure to VOC Superfund chemicals. It will also have broader
impacts on air quality monitoring and exposure assessment.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10137802
- **Project number:** 5P42ES023716-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
- **Principal Investigator:** Jay Robert Turner
- **Activity code:** P42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $11,892
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10137802

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10137802, Characterizing Urban- and Finer-Scale Spatial Variability for Select VOC Superfund Compounds (5P42ES023716-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10137802. Licensed CC0.

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