Baseline Quality of Ambient and
Personal Air Within the New Jersey Meadowlands District
July 2005

The field measurements of the ambient air quality and the personal exposure monitoring study commenced during the first year of the Baseline Study being conducted in the Meadowlands. The long term ambient air quality measurement began in March 2005. The measurement protocols include both particulate matter and gaseous species. At the present time there are insufficient measurement results available for interpreting the annual air quality at the four sites selected for the long term study.

The first field intensive study was completed during the Fall of 2004 and it was focused on personal air measurements of volatile organics. The locations included in the personal monitoring study are:
1) Mills Creek Marsh/Secaucus High School
2) Losen Creek Park at Little Ferry
3) Eric Landfill/Harris Meadow
4) Richard W. De Corte Park trailer

The results for the first intensive personal monitoring study conducted in the late Fall found that all the aromatic compounds yielded exposures that were measured in the New Jersey Relationship of Indoor Outdoor and Personal Air Study (RIOPA). Further, mobile source emissions appeared to dominate the aromatic compound exposures. Finally, other types of sources were associated with the measured levels of chlorinated compounds. The second phase of the personal monitoring study was commenced during the Summer of 2005, and the long term monitoring results will begin to yield a larger database for analysis.

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