| Texas is the second largest state in U.S.A. based on geographical area, population and the economy. Studies conducted in the southern coastal region of TX have identified long range transport as a major contributor of particulate matter (PM) pollution along with local emissions. Biomass burns, secondary sulfates and diesel emissions sources are comprise as the dominant mass of PM2.5 have been noted to be formed. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to identify and quantify local as well as regional sources contributing to the PM pollution.;Source apportionment techniques such as principal component analysis (PCA) and positive matrix factorization (PMF) were to identify and quantify local and regional sources affecting this coastal region. As a supplemental analysis, conditional probability function (CPF) analysis and potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis were employed to characterize the meteorological influences for PM events. PCA identified an optimal solution of 6 sources affecting the region of study, while PMF resolved 8 sources. Biomass comingled with sea salt was identified to be the dominant contributor from the PCA analysis with 30.2% of the apportioned PM mass in Brownsville, meanwhile PMF account secondary sulfates I & II with 27.6%. The other common sources identified included, biomass burning, crustal dust, secondary sulfate, oil combustion, mobile sources and miscellaneous traffic sources. |
