ABSTRACT
Current research conducted by faculty and students at the University of Ruhr and at Hunter College indicates the presence of an unusually high amount of industrial pollutants (particularly fly ash) at the N and the R2 subway platforms at the 59th Street and Lexington Avenue station. Given the relatively industrially pristine nature of the Upper Eastside of Manhattan, the authors determined that the source of these pollutants must be at some distance from the station and are somehow being transported to the station.
A geographic information systems (GIS) investigation was conducted to determine all potential sources of this pollution. After surveying a wide area in which some three hundred potential sources were screened, the suspected source of the pollutants appears to be the Con Edison (now owned by Keyspan) Ravenswood Generating Station in Long Island City, New York. However, the Ravenswood Generating Station is over one mile away from the station.
However, it is also recognized that pollution is typically transported over significant distances. This transport of pollutants is impacted by local weather conditions, the built environment and the nature of the pollutants. Therefore, this study employs geographic plume analysis (GPA) techniques to model the dispersion of particulate emissions from the generating station and thereby detenriines the potential sites of deposition of these particulates.
Potential sites for the entry of these pollutants into the subway station are investigated. In addition, a mechanism for the movement of the pollutants within the tunnel is hypothesized. In this way the impact on air quality within the subway tunnel system by the Ravenswood Generating Station is determined.
