Date of Award

2026-08-01

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Environmental Science and Engineering

Advisor(s)

Thomas E. Gill

Abstract

Extreme heat and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are two of the most consequential environmental threats to human health in the United States, and both are intensifying under climate change. Their risks are distributed unequally across urban populations and, when the two hazards coincide, they produce health effects greater than those of each individual hazard. This dissertation assesses extreme heat, fine particulate pollution, and their compound co-occurrence in El Paso County, Texas, including the city of El Paso, an arid, predominantly Hispanic border city in the Chihuahuan Desert from 2023 to 2025. Using multi-source data that integrates NASA's geostationary Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) satellite retrievals of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and PM2.5, SOLWEIG-modelled outdoor thermal comfort indices, ground-based AERONET AOD, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) PM2.5 and meteorological observations, and census-based social vulnerability indicators, the study provides three linked analyses across 598 census block groups. Evaluation of TEMPO's preliminary aerosol products revealed systematic AOD underestimation yet reasonable spatial correlation with ground monitors (r = 0.85 at 27.5 km spatial aggregation), alongside PM2.5 overestimation traced to bright-surface retrieval artifacts and the complex columnar-to-surface relationship in dust-affected air. A principal-component Heat Vulnerability Index showed near-equal contributions from sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and exposure dimensions of heat vulnerability, with highest vulnerability concentrated in the central urban corridor and border-adjacent neighborhoods where daytime Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) exceeded 47°C and Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) exceeded 41°C county-wide. Compound analysis demonstrated a structural seasonal decoupling, spring dust versus summer heat, that suppresses simultaneous extremes, yet compound burden remained spatially clustered (Global Moran's I = +0.586) in the central city, coinciding with elevated sensitivity and reduced adaptive capacity. Together the findings establish compound co-exposure to heat and PM2.5 as a mappable, spatially unequal phenomenon and provide an equity-focused evidence base for targeted intervention.

Keywords: extreme heat; PM2.5; TEMPO; SOLWEIG; heat vulnerability index; outdoor thermal comfort; compound exposure; spatial autocorrelation; environmental justice; arid border city; El Paso.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

199 p.

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Benjamin Damilare Ojo

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