Appendix S to Part 50 - Interpretation of the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Oxides of Nitrogen (Nitrogen Dioxide)

Appendix S to Part 50 - Interpretation of the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Oxides of Nitrogen (Nitrogen Dioxide)

1. General

(a) This appendix explains the data handling conventions and computations necessary for determining when the primary national ambient air quality standards for oxides of nitrogen as measured by nitrogen dioxide (“NO₂ NAAQS”) specified in 50.11 are met. Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is measured in the ambient air by a Federal reference method (FRM) based on appendix F to this part or by a Federal equivalent method (FEM) designated in accordance with part 53 of this chapter. Data handling and computation procedures to be used in making comparisons between reported NO₂ concentrations and the levels of the NO₂ NAAQS are specified in the following sections.

(b) Whether to exclude, retain, or make adjustments to the data affected by exceptional events, including natural events, is determined by the requirements and process deadlines specified in 50.1, 50.14 and 51.930 of this chapter.

(c) The terms used in this appendix are defined as follows:

Annual mean refers to the annual average of all of the 1-hour concentration values as defined in section 5.1 of this appendix.

Daily maximum 1-hour values for NO₂ refers to the maximum 1-hour NO₂ concentration values measured from midnight to midnight (local standard time) that are used in NAAQS computations.

Design values are the metrics (i.e., statistics) that are compared to the NAAQS levels to determine compliance, calculated as specified in section 5 of this appendix. The design values for the primary NAAQS are:

(1) The annual mean value for a monitoring site for one year (referred to as the “annual primary standard design value”).

(2) The 3-year average of annual 98th percentile daily maximum 1-hour values for a monitoring site (referred to as the “1-hour primary standard design value”).

98th percentile daily maximum 1-hour value is the value below which nominally 98 percent of all daily maximum 1-hour concentration values fall, using the ranking and selection method specified in section 5.2 of this appendix.

Quarter refers to a calendar quarter.

Year refers to a calendar year.

2. Requirements for Data Used for Comparisons With the NO₂ NAAQS and Data Reporting Considerations

(a) All valid FRM/FEM NO₂ hourly data required to be submitted to EPA's Air Quality System (AQS), or otherwise available to EPA, meeting the requirements of part 58 of this chapter including appendices A, C, and E shall be used in design value calculations. Multi-hour average concentration values collected by wet chemistry methods shall not be used.

(b) When two or more NO₂ monitors are operated at a site, the State may in advance designate one of them as the primary monitor. If the State has not made this designation, the Administrator will make the designation, either in advance or retrospectively. Design values will be developed using only the data from the primary monitor, if this results in a valid design value. If data from the primary monitor do not allow the development of a valid design value, data solely from the other monitor(s) will be used in turn to develop a valid design value, if this results in a valid design value. If there are three or more monitors, the order for such comparison of the other monitors will be determined by the Administrator. The Administrator may combine data from different monitors in different years for the purpose of developing a valid 1-hour primary standard design value, if a valid design value cannot be developed solely with the data from a single monitor. However, data from two or more monitors in the same year at the same site will not be combined in an attempt to meet data completeness requirements, except if one monitor has physically replaced another instrument permanently, in which case the two instruments will be considered to be the same monitor, or if the State has switched the designation of the primary monitor from one instrument to another during the year.

(c) Hourly NO₂ measurement data shall be reported to AQS in units of parts per billion (ppb), to at most one place after the decimal, with additional digits to the right being truncated with no further rounding.

3. Comparisons With the NO₂ NAAQS

3.1 The Annual Primary NO₂ NAAQS

(a) The annual primary NO₂ NAAQS is met at a site when the valid annual primary standard design value is less than or equal to 53 parts per billion (ppb).

(b) An annual primary standard design value is valid when at least 75 percent of the hours in the year are reported.

(c) An annual primary standard design value based on data that do not meet the completeness criteria stated in section 3.1(b) may also be considered valid with the approval of, or at the initiative of, the Administrator, who may consider factors such as monitoring site closures/moves, monitoring diligence, the consistency and levels of the valid concentration measurements that are available, and nearby concentrations in determining whether to use such data.

(d) The procedures for calculating the annual primary standard design values are given in section 5.1 of this appendix.

3.2 The 1-hour Primary NO₂ NAAQS

(a) The 1-hour primary NO₂ NAAQS is met at a site when the valid 1-hour primary standard design value is less than or equal to 100 parts per billion (ppb).

(b) An NO₂ 1-hour primary standard design value is valid if it encompasses three consecutive calendar years of complete data. A year meets data completeness requirements when all 4 quarters are complete. A quarter is complete when at least 75 percent of the sampling days for each quarter have complete data. A sampling day has complete data if 75 percent of the hourly concentration values, including State-flagged data affected by exceptional events which have been approved for exclusion by the Administrator, are reported.

(c) In the case of one, two, or three years that do not meet the completeness requirements of section 3.2(b) of this appendix and thus would normally not be useable for the calculation of a valid 3-year 1-hour primary standard design value, the 3-year 1-hour primary standard design value shall nevertheless be considered valid if one of the following conditions is true.

(i) At least 75 percent of the days in each quarter of each of three consecutive years have at least one reported hourly value, and the design value calculated according to the procedures specified in section 5.2 is above the level of the primary 1-hour standard.

(ii)

(A) A 1-hour primary standard design value that is below the level of the NAAQS can be validated if the substitution test in section 3.2(c)(ii)(B) results in a “test design value” that is below the level of the NAAQS. The test substitutes actual “high” reported daily maximum 1-hour values from the same site at about the same time of the year (specifically, in the same calendar quarter) for unknown values that were not successfully measured. Note that the test is merely diagnostic in nature, intended to confirm that there is a very high likelihood that the original design value (the one with less than 75 percent data capture of hours by day and of days by quarter) reflects the true under-NAAQS-level status for that 3-year period; the result of this data substitution test (the “test design value”, as defined in section 3.2(c)(ii)(B)) is not considered the actual design value. For this test, substitution is permitted only if there are at least 200 days across the three matching quarters of the three years under consideration (which is about 75 percent of all possible daily values in those three quarters) for which 75 percent of the hours in the day, including State-flagged data affected by exceptional events which have been approved for exclusion by the Administrator, have reported concentrations. However, maximum 1-hour values from days with less than 75 percent of the hours reported shall also be considered in identifying the high value to be used for substitution.

(B) The substitution test is as follows: Data substitution will be performed in all quarter periods that have less than 75 percent data capture but at least 50 percent data capture, including State-flagged data affected by exceptional events which have been approved for exclusion by the Administrator; if any quarter has less than 50 percent data capture then this substitution test cannot be used. Identify for each quarter (e.g., January-March) the highest reported daily maximum 1-hour value for that quarter, excluding State-flagged data affected by exceptional events which have been approved for exclusion by the Administrator, looking across those three months of all three years under consideration. All daily maximum 1-hour values from all days in the quarter period shall be considered when identifying this highest value, including days with less than 75 percent data capture. If after substituting the highest non-excluded reported daily maximum 1-hour value for a quarter for as much of the missing daily data in the matching deficient quarter(s) as is needed to make them 100 percent complete, the procedure in section 5.2 yields a recalculated 3-year 1-hour standard “test design value” below the level of the standard, then the 1-hour primary standard design value is deemed to have passed the diagnostic test and is valid, and the level of the standard is deemed to have been met in that 3-year period. As noted in section 3.2(c)(i), in such a case, the 3-year design value based on the data actually reported, not the “test design value”, shall be used as the valid design value.

(iii)

(A) A 1-hour primary standard design value that is above the level of the NAAQS can be validated if the substitution test in section 3.2(c)(iii)(B) results in a “test design value” that is above the level of the NAAQS. The test substitutes actual “low” reported daily maximum 1-hour values from the same site at about the same time of the year (specifically, in the same three months of the calendar) for unknown values that were not successfully measured. Note that the test is merely diagnostic in nature, intended to confirm that there is a very high likelihood that the original design value (the one with less than 75 percent data capture of hours by day and of days by quarter) reflects the true above-NAAQS-level status for that 3-year period; the result of this data substitution test (the “test design value”, as defined in section 3.2(c)(iii)(B)) is not considered the actual design value. For this test, substitution is permitted only if there are a minimum number of available daily data points from which to identify the low quarter-specific daily maximum 1-hour values, specifically if there are at least 200 days across the three matching quarters of the three years under consideration (which is about 75 percent of all possible daily values in those three quarters) for which 75 percent of the hours in the day have reported concentrations. Only days with at least 75 percent of the hours reported shall be considered in identifying the low value to be used for substitution.

(B) The substitution test is as follows: Data substitution will be performed in all quarter periods that have less than 75 percent data capture. Identify for each quarter (e.g., January-March) the lowest reported daily maximum 1-hour value for that quarter, looking across those three months of all three years under consideration. All daily maximum 1-hour values from all days with at least 75 percent capture in the quarter period shall be considered when identifying this lowest value. If after substituting the lowest reported daily maximum 1-hour value for a quarter for as much of the missing daily data in the matching deficient quarter(s) as is needed to make them 75 percent complete, the procedure in section 5.2 yields a recalculated 3-year 1-hour standard “test design value” above the level of the standard, then the 1-hour primary standard design value is deemed to have passed the diagnostic test and is valid, and the level of the standard is deemed to have been exceeded in that 3-year period. As noted in section 3.2(c)(i), in such a case, the 3-year design value based on the data actually reported, not the “test design value”, shall be used as the valid design value.

(d) A 1-hour primary standard design value based on data that do not meet the completeness criteria stated in 3.2(b) and also do not satisfy section 3.2(c), may also be considered valid with the approval of, or at the initiative of, the Administrator, who may consider factors such as monitoring site closures/moves, monitoring diligence, the consistency and levels of the valid concentration measurements that are available, and nearby concentrations in determining whether to use such data.

(e) The procedures for calculating the 1-hour primary standard design values are given in section 5.2 of this appendix.

4. Rounding Conventions

4.1 Rounding Conventions for the Annual Primary NO₂ NAAQS

(a) Hourly NO₂ measurement data shall be reported to AQS in units of parts per billion (ppb), to at most one place after the decimal, with additional digits to the right being truncated with no further rounding.

(b) The annual primary standard design value is calculated pursuant to section 5.1 and then rounded to the nearest whole number or 1 ppb (decimals 0.5 and greater are rounded up to the nearest whole number, and any decimal lower than 0.5 is rounded down to the nearest whole number).

4.2 Rounding Conventions for the 1-hour Primary NO₂ NAAQS

(a) Hourly NO₂ measurement data shall be reported to AQS in units of parts per billion (ppb), to at most one place after the decimal, with additional digits to the right being truncated with no further rounding.

(b) Daily maximum 1-hour values are not rounded.

(c) The 1-hour primary standard design value is calculated pursuant to section 5.2 and then rounded to the nearest whole number or 1 ppb (decimals 0.5 and greater are rounded up to the nearest whole number, and any decimal lower than 0.5 is rounded down to the nearest whole number).

5. Calculation Procedures for the Primary NO₂ NAAQS

5.1 Procedures for the Annual Primary NO₂ NAAQS

(a) When the data for a site and year meet the data completeness requirements in section 3.1(b) of this appendix, or if the Administrator exercises the discretionary authority in section 3.1(c), the annual mean is simply the arithmetic average of all of the reported 1-hour values.

(b) The annual primary standard design value for a site is the valid annual mean rounded according to the conventions in section 4.1.

5.2 Calculation Procedures for the 1-hour Primary NO₂ NAAQS

(a) Procedure for identifying annual 98th percentile values. When the data for a particular site and year meet the data completeness requirements in section 3.2(b), or if one of the conditions of section 3.2(c) is met, or if the Administrator exercises the discretionary authority in section 3.2(d), identification of annual 98th percentile value is accomplished as follows.

(i) The annual 98th percentile value for a year is the higher of the two values resulting from the following two procedures.

(1) Procedure 1.

(A) For the year, determine the number of days with at least 75 percent of the hourly values reported including State-flagged data affected by exceptional events which have been approved for exclusion by the Administrator.

(B) For the year, from only the days with at least 75 percent of the hourly values reported, select from each day the maximum hourly value excluding State-flagged data affected by exceptional events which have been approved for exclusion by the Administrator.

(C) Sort all these daily maximum hourly values from a particular site and year by descending value. (For example: (x[1], x[2], x[3], * * *, x[n]). In this case, x[1] is the largest number and x[n] is the smallest value.) The 98th percentile is determined from this sorted series of daily values which is ordered from the highest to the lowest number. Using the left column of Table 1, determine the appropriate range (i.e., row) for the annual number of days with valid data for year y (cn_y) as determined from step (A). The corresponding “n” value in the right column identifies the rank of the annual 98th percentile value in the descending sorted list of daily site values for year y. Thus, P_{0.98, y} = the nth largest value.

(2) Procedure 2.

(A) For the year, determine the number of days with at least one hourly value reported including State-flagged data affected by exceptional events which have been approved for exclusion by the Administrator.

(B) For the year, from all the days with at least one hourly value reported, select from each day the maximum hourly value excluding State-flagged data affected by exceptional events which have been approved for exclusion by the Administrator.

(C) Sort all these daily maximum values from a particular site and year by descending value. (For example: (x[1], x[2], x[3], * * *, x[n]). In this case, x[1] is the largest number and x[n] is the smallest value.) The 98th percentile is determined from this sorted series of daily values which is ordered from the highest to the lowest number. Using the left column of Table 1, determine the appropriate range (i.e., row) for the annual number of days with valid data for year y (cn_y) as determined from step (A). The corresponding “n” value in the right column identifies the rank of the annual 98th percentile value in the descending sorted list of daily site values for year y. Thus, P_{0.98, y} = the nth largest value.

(b) The 1-hour primary standard design value for a site is mean of the three annual 98th percentile values, rounded according to the conventions in section 4.

Table 1

Annual number of days with valid data for year “y” (cny)	P0.98, y is the nth maximum value of the year, where n is the listed number
1-50	1
51-100	2
101-150	3
151-200	4
201-250	5
251-300	6
301-350	7
351-366	8

[75 FR 6532, Feb. 9, 2010]