TSD- 3b 

Analysis of Ambient PM2.5 Mass: 

 CT and NJ portions of the New York City Metropolitan Nonattainment Area through 2006 

Bureau of Air Quality Analysis and Research 

Division of Air Resources 

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 

Albany, NY 12233 

December 27, 2007 

1
Introduction

In this report we provide ambient data analysis for those monitors in Connecticut 

(two counties) and New Jersey (10 counties) that are part of the New York City nonattainment area (NYC NAA) for PM2.5. The analysis presented here supplements TSD3a (2007), which examined PM2.5 air quality for the FRM monitors in New York only.

Database

 The analysis is based upon the Federal Reference Method (FRM) data covering 

the period of 1999 to 2006, which were extracted from the EPA Air Quality System 

(AQS) data on December 26, 2007. To be consistent with the analysis reported in TSD3a (2007), we excluded the data from July 6-9, 2002 that was associated with large-scale 

Canadian forest fires. 

Connecticut

 The Connecticut portion of the NYC NAA had 14 sites at various times during 

this period; five of these sites have collocated duplicate monitors and two of the sites had 

every day sampling for at least a portion of the time. It should be noted that the New 

Haven/Stiles St. monitor was designated as a “special purpose” monitor, and as such 

cannot be used to make an attainment or non-attainmment designation. The stations are 

listed in Table 1 along with their operational dates. 

New Jersey

 The New Jersey portion of the NYC NAA had 15 monitoring sites at various 

times during this period; three of these sites have collocated duplicate monitors and two 

of the sites had every day sampling for at least a portion of the time. Information on 

these monitors is listed in Table 1. 

Analysis

A very cursory analysis was performed on these data, similar to what was done 

for the NY sites in TSD-3a (2007). The annual average estimates are listed in Table 2. 

Only those monitors with at least 75% valid samples in a given year are shown in Table 

2, and blank cells indicate that either the sampler was not in operation or it did not meet 

the 75% criteria. In general the CT monitors are below the level of the annual PM2.5

National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of 15 μg m-3, with the exception of the 

New Haven/Stile Street special purpose monitoring site. In the case of NJ, there is 

obvious year-to-year variation at some of the sites, and a few of the monitors are above 

the level of the annual PM2.5 NAAQS. However, this estimated annual average should 

not be confused with that based on the regulatory process that requires estimation of the 

annual average based upon individual quarterly data. 

2
 Table 3 lists the 98th percentile of the PM2.5 concentration at each of these 

monitors, and again, only those years that had 75% valid samples are shown. The 24-hour 

NAAQS for PM2.5 is 65μg m-3, and only once did a site exceed 50μg m-3 – Elizabeth Lab 

in 2001. 

Trends

 We also used these data to estimate the annual trends at the longest-running sites. 

For this analysis we computed quarterly averages at these sites, and considered quarters 

to be complete if there were at least 10 valid samples. Table 4 lists the estimated linear 

trends on an annual basis. All monitors except for the New Haven/Stiles Street special 

purpose monitor show a downward trend, varying between 0.05μg m-3 and 0.49μg m-3, 

indicating general improvement in PM2.5 air quality over the region and consistent with 

what was reported in TSD-3a (2007) for the NY monitors. 

Reference

TSD-3a, 2007. Analysis of Ambient PM2.5 Mass and Speciation: New York portion of the 

New York Metropolitan Nonattainment Area through 2006 

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Table 1. Listing of FRM sites, 1999-2006. Some locations have primary (“P”) and 

duplicate (“D”) samplers. Dates with an asterix denote daily sampling for at least 

part of the period. The New Haven/Stiles St. monitor was designated as “special 

purpose,” and is included here for completeness only (in italics). 

State AQS ID Site Name County Dates 

CT 090010010 Bridgeport/Roosevelt 

School Fairfield CT P: 1/1999 – 12/2006 

D: 1/1999 – 1/2003 

090010113 Bridgeport/Edison School Fairfield CT 9/2000 – 12/2003 

090011123 Danbury WCSU Fairfield CT 1/1999 – 12/2006 

090012124 Stamford H.S. Fairfield CT 1/1999 – 12/2004 

090013005 Norwalk Health Dept. Fairfield CT 3/2000 – 12/2006 

090019003 Westport/Sherwood Island Fairfield CT 1/1999 – 12/2006 

090090018 New Haven/Stiles St. New Haven CT P: 1/1999 – 9/2005* 

D: 1/1999 – 1/2003 

090090026 New Haven/Woodward 

Firehouse 

New Haven CT 4/2003 – 12/2006 

090090027 New Haven/Criscuolo Park New Haven CT P: 1/2004 – 12/2006* 

D: 2/2005 – 12/2006 

090091123 New Haven/State St. New Haven CT P: 1/1999 – 12/2006 

D: 1/1999 – 2/2005 

090092008 New Haven/Ag. Center New Haven CT 4/2003 – 12/2006 

090092123 Waterbury/Bank St. New Haven CT P: 1/1999 – 12/2006 

D: 1/1999 – 12/2006 

090098003 West Haven Toll New Haven CT 4/2003 – 12/2004 

090099005 Hamden Mill Basins New Haven CT 7/1999 – 12/2003 

NJ 340030003 Fort Lee Library Bergen NJ 1/1999 – 12/2006 

340130011 Newark/St. Charles Essex NJ 1/1999 – 12/1999 

340130015 Newark/Willis Center Essex NJ 4/1999 – 12/2006 

340130016 Newark Lab Essex NJ P: 8/2001 – 5/2003 

D: 8/2001 – 5/2003 

340171003 Jersey City Firehouse Hudson NJ P: 1/1999 – 12/2006 

D: 12/1999 – 12/2006 

340172002 Union City Hudson NJ 1/1999 – 3/2002, 

7/2005 – 12/2006 

340210008 Trenton Mercer NJ 1/1999 – 12/2006 

340218001 Washington Crossing Mercer NJ 1/1999 – 12/2006 

340230006 New Brunswick Middlesex NJ 1/1999 – 12/2006 

340270004 Morristown Ambulance 

Squad Morris NJ 5/1999 – 12/2006 

340273001 Chester Morris NJ 1/1999 – 12/2006 

340310005 Paterson Passaic NJ 1/1999 – 12/2006 

340390004 Elizabeth Lab Union NJ P: 1/1999 – 12/2006* 

D: 1/1999 – 12/2006 

340390006 Elizabeth/Mitchell Bldg. Union NJ 1/1999 – 12/2006 

340392003 Rahway Union NJ 12/1999 – 12/2006* 

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Table 2. Annual average PM2.5 levels for sites with at least 75% valid samples in a given 

year, 2000-2006. Incomplete years are left blank. 

Site Name 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 

Bridgeport/Roosevelt School (P) 13.88 13.71 12.72 12.98 12.92 14.32 12.51 

Bridgeport/Roosevelt School (D) 15.63 13.49 11.82 

Bridgeport/Edison School 12.77 12.88 12.27 

Danbury WCSU 12.70 13.22 12.51 13.37 11.25 13.44 12.17 

Stamford H.S. 12.90 13.01 12.81 13.51 11.78 

Norwalk Health Dept. 12.86 13.41 12.58 12.96 12.23 13.32 11.77 

Westport/Sherwood Island 13.03 12.15 11.49 11.63 11.06 12.18 10.69 

New Haven/Stiles St. (P) 15.94 16.88 16.00 16.91 15.40 

New Haven/Stiles St. (D) 18.78 18.60 16.19 

New Haven/Woodward 

Firehouse 11.56 13.05 11.72 

New Haven/Criscuolo Park (P) 12.21 13.62 12.21 

New Haven/Criscuolo Park (D) 14.01 12.81 

New Haven/State St. (P) 14.07 14.32 13.03 13.59 12.66 13.88 12.63 

New Haven/State St. (D) 14.58 12.38 15.49 12.39 

New Haven/Ag. Center 11.14 11.73 10.76 

Waterbury/Bank St. (P) 13.61 13.98 13.23 12.64 12.04 14.00 11.98 

Waterbury/Bank St. (D) 14.82 14.21 12.75 14.09 11.97 14.14 12.26 

West Haven Toll 12.91 

Hamden Mill Basins 11.49 11.88 11.09 12.29 

Fort Lee Library 14.57 13.85 12.99 13.34 12.05 14.65 11.82 

Newark/Willis Center 15.60 13.06 13.16 13.84 13.17 14.35 12.12 

Newark Lab (P) 14.12 

Newark Lab (D) 14.05 

Jersey City Firehouse (P) 16.78 14.01 14.34 14.81 13.66 15.10 13.35 

Jersey City Firehouse (D) 13.99 16.26 12.93 16.07 14.67 

Union City 17.08 15.54 13.83 

Trenton 14.71 14.46 12.94 13.41 12.48 12.90 12.19 

Washington Crossing 12.05 11.35 12.18 10.96 12.27 10.06 

New Brunswick 13.00 12.72 11.12 12.91 11.11 13.33 10.77 

Morristown Ambulance Squad 12.88 11.48 12.16 11.27 12.33 10.12 

Chester 11.09 10.46 10.77 9.99 10.77 9.01 

Paterson 13.56 12.90 13.26 12.60 13.44 11.88 

Elizabeth Lab (P) 15.53 14.56 15.96 15.08 15.24 14.16 

Elizabeth Lab (D) 18.49 15.42 14.78 16.97 14.19 16.65 14.72 

Elizabeth/Mitchell Bldg. 15.20 12.88 13.11 13.97 12.68 14.33 12.36 

Rahway 14.10 12.77 12.04 13.24 12.53 13.91 11.92 

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Table 3. The 98th percentile of PM2.5 levels for sites with at least 75% valid samples in a 

given year, 2000-2006. Incomplete years are left blank. 

Site Name 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 

Bridgeport/Roosevelt School (P) 41.5 40.1 32.9 39.6 34.2 38.3 36.7 

Bridgeport/Roosevelt School (D) 42.8 40.6 34.0 

Bridgeport/Edison School 32.1 33.2 40.4 

Danbury WCSU 32.9 35.2 30.7 37.3 27.5 33.4 33.8 

Stamford H.S. 36.3 37.4 34.5 41.5 32.2 

Norwalk Health Dept. 35.3 35.7 34.3 42.9 35.2 34.9 35.9 

Westport/Sherwood Island 33.4 34.5 30.8 44.0 30.9 35.2 31.3 

New Haven/Stiles St. (P) 39.5 40.6 40.4 44.0 34.9 

New Haven/Stiles St. (D) 44.8 43.0 34.5 

New Haven/Woodward 

Firehouse 31.5 36.4 36.5 

New Haven/Criscuolo Park (P) 33.2 38.2 36.7 

New Haven/Criscuolo Park (D) 39.1 31.6 

New Haven/State St. (P) 37.2 39.5 32.4 40.6 36.2 40.8 38.1 

New Haven/State St. (D) 40.6 32.3 38.9 29.9 

New Haven/Ag. Center 32.1 32.8 33.9 

Waterbury/Bank St. (P) 34.4 35.4 32.6 37.7 30.4 34.1 35.6 

Waterbury/Bank St. (D) 36.0 34.9 33.5 32.8 26.1 35.9 35.2 

West Haven Toll 30.8 

Hamden Mill Basins 34.7 32.1 29.4 44.0 

Fort Lee Library 36.4 34.4 33.0 38.9 31.0 40.5 38.2 

Newark/Willis Center 41.6 32.1 32.3 39.8 34.9 40.4 39.9 

Newark Lab (P) 34.6 

Newark Lab (D) 39.9 

Jersey City Firehouse (P) 39.5 34.1 34.3 46.4 37.4 37.9 41.0 

Jersey City Firehouse (D) 36.8 41.1 29.1 38.3 38.9 

Union City 39.3 39.5 

Trenton 43.1 35.4 35.4 40.5 33.3 33.6 36.2 

Washington Crossing 31.5 32.2 34.9 28.0 33.0 29.5 

New Brunswick 34.5 34.1 26.0 45.0 35.5 33.8 32.8 

Morristown Ambulance Squad 30.2 29.7 36.8 31.1 32.9 30.4 

Chester 29.4 30.0 35.7 29.8 33.4 28.3 

Paterson 35.4 34.9 39.8 31.0 40.5 33.4 

Elizabeth Lab (P) 39.7 41.7 37.0 40.5 42.5 39.8 

Elizabeth Lab (D) 46.6 50.3 39.3 41.2 36.5 39.8 41.9 

Elizabeth/Mitchell Bldg. 36.0 33.8 30.0 40.9 33.1 38.6 38.7 

Rahway 38.0 30.4 31.1 35.2 36.6 38.2 37.5 

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Table 4. Trends in PM2.5 mass at the longest running FRM monitors, based on quarterly 

averages from 1999-2006, in μg m-3 yr

-1. Only those quarters with at least 10 valid 

samples are included in this trend estimate. 

Site Name Trend (μg m-3 yr-1) 

Bridgeport/Roosevelt School (P) -0.07 

Danbury WCSU -0.05 

Norwalk Health Dept. -0.18 

Westport/Sherwood Island -0.19 

New Haven/Stiles St. (P) +0.02 

New Haven/State St. (P) -0.19 

New Haven/State St. (D) -0.32 

Waterbury/Bank St. (P) -0.16 

Waterbury/Bank St. (D) -0.13 

Fort Lee Library -0.25 

Newark/Willis Center -0.37 

Jersey City Firehouse (P) -0.34 

Jersey City Firehouse (D) -0.25 

Trenton -0.27 

Washington Crossing -0.14 

New Brunswick -0.11 

Morristown Ambulance Squad -0.49 

Chester -0.21 

Paterson -0.06 

Elizabeth Lab (P) -0.27 

Elizabeth Lab (D) -0.43 

Elizabeth/Mitchell Bldg. -0.30 

Rahway -0.15 

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