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Subject: Re: Klemm PM Data Clarification

From: "Eddie Thomas" <ethomas@klemmanalysis.com>

To: Rebecca Yang/RTP/USEPA/US@EPA, "Rebecca Klemm" <rklemm@klemmanalysis.com>

Cc: Lindsay Stanek/RTP/USEPA/US@EPA

Date: 11/30/2009 11:56 PM

Subject: RE: Question regarding 2004 study

Hi Rebecca,

The statistics we sent previously used updated AQI data (includes more recent data and back-filled 

historical data) and includes less missing values over the two-year time period. We felt it prudent to send 

statistics on the more recent data since it is the data we’re using for all subsequent research on health 

effects of air pollution in Atlanta, GA. The updated data AQI statistics are based on average of lag0 and 

lag1.

Attached are descriptive statistics on the original AQI data that coincide with “Daily mortality and air 

pollution in Atlanta: Two years of data from ARIES”.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Klemm Analysis Group

From: Rebecca Klemm 

Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2009 7:47 AM

To: Yang.Rebecca@epamail.epa.gov; Eddie Thomas

Subject: Re: Question regarding 2004 study

Rebecca. We will check. Could be the aqi were updated. We will check next week. 

Rebecca

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

From: Yang.Rebecca@epamail.epa.gov 

Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:07:42 -0500

To: <rjklemm@klemmanalysis.com>

Cc: <Stanek.Lindsay@epamail.epa.gov>

Subject: Question regarding 2004 study

Hi Rebecca,

I have been looking through the data set you sent earlier this year for your 2004 study titled, "Daily

mortality and air pollution in Atlanta: Two years of data from ARIES" and found a few differences between 

it and the published concentration information. I apologize for disturbing you again, but I was wondering if I 

could ask you for a few points of clarification? In the data set, the maximum for PM coarse was listed as 

34.2 g/m3 whereas the maximum for PM coarse in the published study was 25.17 g/m3. In addition to 

those differences, there are a few other small discrepancies as well (e.g., the minimum for coarse). I'm not 

sure if the discrepancies are due to the averaging of lags 0 and 1 in the published study, but I'd appreciate 

any information you have about how the concentrations were calculated. The attached excel spreadsheet 
is the data set that I've been referencing. Thank you so much for your help and clarification! I look forward 

to hearing from you. 

Sincerely,

Rebecca Yang 

Student Services Contractor

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

National Center for Environmental Assessment-RTP

PH: (919) 541-2655
AQI Summary

Atlanta ARIES (Fulton & DeKalb counties)August 1, 1998 through July 31, 2000

Parameter Units Mean Standard Deviation Minimum First Quartile Median Third Quartile 95th percentile 96th percentile 97th percentile 98th percentile 99th percentil

Air Quality indicatorsPM2.5 FRM μg/m3 19.62 8.32 5.28 13.15 18.08 24.76 34.51 35.39 37.29 38.94 41.83 

PM10 μg/m3 28.94 10.70 9.28 20.84 27.36 35.83 48.71 49.53 50.80 51.49 58.85 

Coarse mass μg/m3 9.69 3.94 1.71 6.69 9.34 11.94 16.84 17.38 17.99 18.55 20.20 

O3 max 8hr ppbv 47.03 24.71 6.63 27.00 43.62 63.52 91.97 94.24 100.39 104.41 111.16 NO2 max 1hr ppbv 51.28 16.30 10.46 39.95 49.35 60.80 81.23 83.95 86.40 88.96 96.01 CO max 1hr ppbv 1314.32 939.13 303.58 680.39 1019.27 1655.40 3139.94 3402.02 3628.38 4243.47 5075.20 

SO2 max 1hr ppbv 19.40 13.42 0.93 9.83 16.38 24.95 45.36 47.47 51.15 53.77 61.62 Ultrafine surface area mm2/cm3 250.06 213.17 26.84 131.33 200.29 299.00 570.51 616.63 725.07 865.93 999.34 

Ultrafine count #/cm3 3.81E+04 3.56E+04 5.01E+03 1.83E+04 2.77E+04 4.61E+04 9.02E+04 1.01E+05 1.11E+05 1.42E+05 1.89E+05 

Acid μg/m3 0.02 0.02 -0.01 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.08 0.10 

Elemental Carbon μg/m3 2.03 1.23 0.45 1.27 1.71 2.40 4.40 4.55 5.36 5.56 6.80 

Organic Carbon μg/m3 4.54 1.90 1.41 3.16 4.28 5.52 8.23 8.68 8.94 9.84 10.38 

SO4 μg/m3 5.46 3.50 0.79 2.90 4.55 6.84 13.08 13.96 14.65 15.54 16.87 

Oxygenated 

hydrocarbons ppbC 31.82 12.33 9.35 23.25 30.00 39.18 53.33 54.88 58.13 62.15 68.27 

Non-methane 

hydrocarbons ppbC 292.42 215.07 67.25 160.52 221.40 326.80 764.18 857.35 909.45 959.84 1112.27 

NO3 μg/m3 1.17 0.79 0.15 0.59 0.99 1.48 2.76 2.87 3.04 3.55 4.13 

Weather measuresDaily Average Temperature

°C 17.7 7.7 -5.6 12.2 18.3 24.4 28.3 28.3 28.9 29.4 30.0 

Daily Average Dew 

Point

°C 10.6 8.5 -14.7 4.5 12.0 17.8 21.5 21.6 21.8 22.1 22.6 

1 of 2AQI Summary
AQI Summary

Atlanta ARIES (Fulton & DeKalb counties)August 1, 1998 through July 31, 2000

Parameter Units Mean Standard Deviation Minimum First Quartile Median Third Quartile 95th percentile 96th percentile 97th percentile 98th percentile 99th percentil

MORTALITY GROUPS

Deaths due to 

nonaccidental causes # 22.3 5.2 6.0 18.0 22.0 26.0 31.0 31.0 32.0 34.0 35.0 

Deaths due to nonaccidental causes, 

age 65+

# 14.8 4.3 4.0 12.0 15.0 18.0 22.0 22.0 23.0 24.0 27.0 

Deaths due to circulatory conditions # 8.4 3.3 1.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 14.0 15.0 15.0 16.0 17.0 Deaths due to circulatory conditions, age 65+ # 6.2 2.8 0.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 11.0 11.0 12.0 13.0 14.0 Deaths due to respiratory conditions # 2.2 1.5 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 Deaths due to respiratory conditions, age 65+ # 1.8 1.3 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 Deaths due to Cancer # 5.2 2.3 0.0 4.0 5.0 7.0 9.0 9.0 10.0 10.4 11.0 Deaths due to Cancer, age 65+ # 3.3 1.9 0.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 8.0 

Deaths due to all other 

causes

# 6.6 2.7 0.0 5.0 6.0 8.0 11.5 12.0 12.0 13.0 14.0 

Deaths due to all other 

causes, age 65+ # 3.6 2.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 5.0 7.0 7.0 8.0 8.0 9.0 

2 of 2AQI Summary
Year 1

Atlanta ARIES (Fulton & DeKalb counties)August 1, 1998 through July 31, 1999

Parameter Units Mean Standard Deviation Minimum First Quartile Median Third Quartile 95th percentile 96th percentile 97th percentile 98th percentile 99th percentile Maxi

Air Quality indicatorsPM2.5 FRM μg/m3 20.6 9.3 3.8 13.4 19.2 26.0 37.9 39.7 40.7 43.5 46.8 54

PM10 μg/m3 29.3 12.0 7.0 20.9 28.0 36.6 49.1 52.8 54.6 60.9 67.8 68

Coarse mass μg/m3 9.4 4.5 0.5 6.1 9.0 11.8 17.2 18.0 19.5 20.9 21.8 28

O3 max 8hr ppbv 44.6 25.4 3.5 24.6 40.1 60.6 91.7 95.2 98.5 109.0 117.4 13

NO2 max 1hr ppbv 50.5 19.8 7.6 36.6 47.9 63.2 85.6 86.0 95.1 99.4 100.1 10CO max 1hr ppbv 1251.2 989.1 260.7 561.8 888.9 1563.3 3280.9 3435.1 3845.9 4065.2 4758.1 562SO2 max 1hr ppbv 18.5 17.4 1.0 6.6 12.6 24.9 52.5 55.5 62.6 73.3 82.1 10Ultrafine surface area mm2/cm3 206.2 283.7 26.3 90.7 146.3 219.4 462.0 589.2 678.6 1053.1 1635.5 293

Ultrafine count #/cm3 28975 48172 3148 12828 19261 24719 60253 84192 107617 165222 273930 457

Acid μg/m3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0

Elemental Carbon μg/m3 2.3 1.6 0.3 1.3 1.9 2.6 5.3 5.9 6.0 7.2 8.3 11Organic Carbon μg/m3 4.6 2.3 1.1 3.1 4.2 5.6 8.2 9.1 10.1 12.0 12.9 16SO4 μg/m3 5.6 3.5 0.8 2.8 4.8 7.5 12.2 13.4 13.8 15.1 17.4 20Oxygenated 

hydrocarbons ppbC 31.5 15.6 6.3 19.8 29.0 40.7 59.7 63.7 64.9 65.9 76.9 91

Non-methane 

hydrocarbons ppbC 312.1 272.0 65.2 150.1 214.6 345.2 911.7 993.1 1058.7 1208.2 1435.6 154

NO3 μg/m3 1.2 0.9 0.1 0.6 0.9 1.5 3.0 3.2 3.3 3.9 4.8 7

Weather measuresDaily Average Temperature

°C 17.7 7.4 -5.6 12.2 18.9 23.9 27.2 27.2 27.8 28.2 28.9 30

Daily Average Dew 

Point

°C 10.9 8.7 -14.7 4.4 12.5 18.3 21.7 21.9 22.0 22.3 22.7 23

1 of 2Year 1
Year 1

Atlanta ARIES (Fulton & DeKalb counties)August 1, 1998 through July 31, 1999

Parameter Units Mean Standard Deviation Minimum First Quartile Median Third Quartile 95th percentile 96th percentile 97th percentile 98th percentile 99th percentile Maxi

MORTALITY GROUPS

Deaths due to 

nonaccidental causes # 22.3 5.3 6.0 18.0 22.0 26.0 30.8 31.0 32.0 32.0 35.0 40

Deaths due to nonaccidental causes, 

age 65+

# 14.7 4.3 5.0 12.0 15.0 18.0 21.8 22.0 23.0 24.0 26.0 29

Deaths due to nonaccidental causes, 

under 65

# 7.6 2.8 0.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 12.0 13.0 13.0 14.0 17

Deaths due to 

circulatory conditions # 8.4 3.2 1.0 6.0 8.0 11.0 13.0 14.0 15.0 15.7 16.4 21

Deaths due to circulatory conditions, 

age 65+

# 6.2 2.7 1.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 11.0 11.0 11.1 12.7 14.4 17

Deaths due to circulatory conditions, 

under 65

# 2.3 1.5 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 7

Deaths due to 

respiratory conditions # 2.1 1.6 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 8

Deaths due to respiratory conditions, 

age 65+

# 1.7 1.4 0.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 4.8 5.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 7

Deaths due to respiratory conditions, 

under 65

# 0.4 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 4

Deaths due to Cancer # 5.3 2.3 0.0 4.0 5.0 7.0 9.0 9.0 10.0 10.0 11.0 13Deaths due to Cancer, age 65+ # 3.4 1.9 0.0 2.0 3.0 5.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 8.0 8.0 10

Deaths due to Cancer, 

under 65 # 1.9 1.3 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 7

Deaths due to all other 

causes

# 6.4 2.5 0.0 5.0 6.0 8.0 11.0 11.4 12.0 12.0 13.0 14

Deaths due to all other 

causes, age 65+ # 3.4 1.9 0.0 2.0 3.0 5.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 9

Deaths due to all other 

causes, age under 65 # 3.0 1.7 0.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 9

2 of 2Year 1
Year 2

Atlanta ARIES (Fulton & DeKalb counties)August 1, 1999 through July 31, 2000

Parameter Units Mean Standard Deviation Minimum First Quartile Median Third Quartile 95th percentile 96th percentile 97th percentile 98th percentile 99th percentile Max

Air Quality indicatorsPM2.5 FRM μg/m3 18.4 8.5 4.2 12.0 16.6 23.5 34.0 34.1 35.6 38.4 39.5 4

PM10 μg/m3 28.2 11.3 5.6 19.7 26.9 35.2 49.0 49.9 50.8 55.1 56.7 5

Coarse mass μg/m3 9.9 4.9 0.5 6.3 9.3 12.3 19.2 19.6 20.1 20.7 23.0 3

O3 max 8hr ppbv 49.2 26.4 2.9 27.8 42.9 68.8 97.9 101.7 103.1 106.3 116.9 12

NO2 max 1hr ppbv 51.7 17.6 15.5 39.3 49.8 61.4 84.4 87.2 91.0 94.0 99.0 10

CO max 1hr ppbv 1405.3 1235.9 250.3 608.0 962.5 1857.6 4106.5 4368.4 4458.9 4757.3 6627.6 76

SO2 max 1hr ppbv 20.1 15.2 0.1 9.6 16.7 26.4 51.6 53.3 55.2 59.7 73.1 8

Ultrafine surface area mm2/cm3 302 173 63 177 268 386 631 665 682 738 886 1

Ultrafine count #/cm3 48866.9 25669.3 11508.9 30050.3 43525.4 62251.6 94665.4 97238.1 103251.4 117310.8 123097.4 156

Acid μg/m3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0

Elemental Carbon μg/m3 1.8 1.1 0.3 1.0 1.5 2.2 3.9 4.0 4.2 5.2 5.5 8Organic Carbon μg/m3 4.5 2.2 1.3 3.0 4.1 5.6 8.2 8.7 9.2 9.5 10.5 1SO4 μg/m3 5.2 3.8 0.6 2.6 4.1 6.4 14.1 15.1 15.7 16.3 17.3 2

Oxygenated hydrocarbons ppbC 33.0 15.2 5.7 22.4 30.1 40.7 64.7 67.4 69.9 73.9 76.0 9Non-methane hydrocarbons ppbC 271.7 203.2 59.5 141.3 203.8 336.0 712.7 756.7 807.8 849.6 976.5 16

NO3 μg/m3 1.1 0.9 0.1 0.5 0.9 1.5 2.6 2.7 3.1 3.8 4.2 6

Weather measuresDaily Average Temperature

°C 17.7 8.0 -2.8 12.2 17.8 25.0 28.9 29.4 29.4 29.4 30.6 3

Daily Average Dew 

Point

°C 10.4 8.3 -13.6 5.4 11.4 17.4 21.0 21.2 21.4 21.6 22.2 2

1 of 2Year 2
Year 2

Atlanta ARIES (Fulton & DeKalb counties)August 1, 1999 through July 31, 2000

Parameter Units Mean Standard Deviation Minimum First Quartile Median Third Quartile 95th percentile 96th percentile 97th percentile 98th percentile 99th percentile Max

MORTALITY GROUPS

Deaths due to 

nonaccidental causes # 22.4 5.2 10.0 19.0 22.0 26.0 31.0 31.4 33.1 34.7 36.4 3

Deaths due to nonaccidental causes, 

age 65+

# 15.0 4.3 4.0 12.0 15.0 18.0 22.0 22.0 23.0 23.7 27.0 3

Deaths due to nonaccidental causes, 

under 65

# 7.4 2.7 2.0 6.0 7.0 9.0 12.0 13.0 13.1 14.0 15.0 1

Deaths due to circulatory conditions # 8.4 3.4 1.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 14.0 15.0 16.0 16.7 17.4 2Deaths due to circulatory conditions, age 65+ # 6.2 2.8 0.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 11.0 11.0 12.0 13.0 14.0 1Deaths due to circulatory conditions, under 65 # 2.2 1.6 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 1Deaths due to respiratory conditions # 2.2 1.4 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 7Deaths due to respiratory conditions, age 65+ # 1.8 1.3 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 6Deaths due to respiratory conditions, under 65 # 0.4 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 4Deaths due to Cancer # 5.0 2.4 0.0 3.0 5.0 7.0 9.0 10.0 10.0 11.0 11.0 1Deaths due to Cancer, age 65+ # 3.2 1.8 0.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 6.8 7.0 7.0 7.0 8.0 1

Deaths due to Cancer, 

under 65 # 1.9 1.5 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 6.4 9

Deaths due to all other 

causes

# 6.7 2.8 1.0 5.0 6.0 8.8 12.0 12.0 13.0 13.0 14.0 1

Deaths due to all other 

causes, age 65+ # 3.8 2.0 0.0 2.0 4.0 5.0 7.0 8.0 8.0 8.7 9.0 1

Deaths due to all other 

causes, age under 65 # 2.9 1.8 0.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 1

2 of 2Year 2