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Air Quality in the
Mid-Atlantic United States:
An Educational Series
Home User's Guide Modules Regional Air Quality Report Resources Pollution Movies
RehobethBeach

About the Modules

This is an educational series that covers regional air quality issues, particularly those that confront the Mid-Atlantic United States.  Divided into eight independent modules the series can be used in its entirety, one module at a time, or any combination of modules to best fit the audience.

The series provides state and agencies and others with tools to easily develop presentations for various audiences including agency staff, the general public, and decision makers.

The modules are divided into the following topics:
The following materials are included as resources:
Module 1 - Air Pollution Impacts
Instructor Manuals
Module 2 - Major Air Pollutants
Instructor's Manual Overview
Module 3 - Meteorology & Transport
PowerPoint Slides for Manuals
Module 4 - Measurements - Stack & Ambient Student Materials (Handouts)
Module 5 - Emissions Example Presentations
Module 6 - Communicating Air Quality  
Module 7 - Solutions  
Module 8 - Overview  

About the Report

MARAMA prepared this Guide to broaden the understanding of the causes of the Region’s air quality problems. The report’s focus is on ozone, fine particle pollution, and pollutant interactions. It is intended to support the development of State Implementation Plans, help train agency staff members, and promote public education.

The Guide notes that each air pollution episode has unique characteristics, and the importance of local emissions and transport from outside the area varies from season to season and in different weather patterns, but both local and distant sources are important. 

The highest ozone concentrations occur in the summertime and are often found downwind of major urban areas, with significant contributions from inter-regional transport. High levels of fine particulate matter may be experienced in industrial, urban, or rural areas in the region and may occur in summer or winter, with inter-regional transport more important in summer and local sources often more important in the winter.

The Guide concludes that effective air pollution control for the Mid-Atlantic Region will require a combination of local and upwind controls on a wide variety of pollution sources.

The principal author of the report was Dr. Jeff Stehr of the University of Maryland Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, with assistance from MARAMA staff, primarily Susan Stephenson (who was responsible for the report layout and project management) and me. The project was funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report was reviewed by a committee of experts from MARAMA member agencies, but any errors remaining are the responsibilities of the principal contributors.

Feel free to send comments or questions about the Guide to us at the address below or e-mail at info@marama.org.

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Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Association, Inc.
8600 LaSalle Road, Suite 636
Towson, MD 21286
(Tel) 443-901-1882
info@marama.org

Last Updated: November 20, 2009