Air Quality Monitoring and Modelling of Emissions from Cruise Ships and the Associated Traffic in James Bay in Victoria, BC

Victoria, BC has become a favorite stopping point for cruise liners, the majority of which are en route to, or heading back from, Alaska. A record number of 184 ships and 352,000 passengers visited Victoria during the 2006 cruise season (April to October) and 163 calls are expected in 2007. To help understand the impact of the cruise traffic on the surrounding waterways, the intern will use CALPUFF atmospheric dispersion modeling to model emissions from visiting cruise ships and the associated bus and taxi traffic. Field monitoring will be performed in the James Bay community surrounding the cruise terminal to quantify ground level concentrations of known pollutants. Residents from the surrounding community have questioned the effects of the terminal’s operations on air quality for a number of years and these findings will hopefully help to answer their inquiries.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Peter Keller

Student:

Karla Poplawski

Partner:

BC Ministry of Environment

Discipline:

Geography / Geology / Earth science

Sector:

Environmental industry

University:

University of Victoria