the proliferation of environmental data and visualization ... · 11/11/2018  · low-cost sensors...

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The proliferation of environmental data and

visualization sharing platforms and their

impact on awareness

Jeffery K Smith

World Health Organization

(Consultant)

smithj@who.int

@jksmith34

Community Engagement,

Citizen Science, & the

BreatheLife Campaign

WHO/PHE

http://www.who.int/airpollution/

Pawan Gupta Ph.D.

NASA - GSFC/USRA

Pawan.Gupta@nasa.gov

On the occasion of the Better Air Quality conference 12-16 November 2018 in Kuching, Malaysia

Session: Urban Planning and City Solutions for Clean Air 15 November 2018

Co-authors

Michael D Mehta Ph.D.

Thompson Rivers University,

Kamloops, BC, Canada

mmehta@tru.ca

Professor Environmental

Studies

https://www.tru.ca/arts/geograp

hy.html

Dawn Lee

World Health Organization

(Consultant)

leeda@who.int

WHO/PHE

http://www.who.int/airpollution/

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Air Pollution is an invisible and ubiquitous killer

A shortage of regulatory &

scientific grade monitoring

stations creates a air

pollution knowledge gap

Monitoring → medical

researchers connect both short

& long-term air pollution

exposure to → NCDs like

heart, stroke, respiratory, &

other illnesses,

hospitalizations, &

deaths.

Most cities have too few regulatory air pollution monitors if any

Even fewer stations make the data

available to the public. Platforms like

OpenAQ.org collect data from these

stations and provide it as an API or for

limited download.

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Air Quality Monitoring

-

Regulatory monitors

Regulatory continuous emission monitoring stations allow governments to provide high accuracy data typically to enforce national and state or local emissions standards.

Many governments in recent years provide open real-time data through the internet. Even more each week provide streaming APIs that enable researchers, citizen scientists, and others can gain insights and discover the hotspots of air pollution around our cities.

- Regulatory monitors provide correction factors for low-cost and remote sensing systems. - are not perfect… have margins of error; - are expensive to maintain & - downtime.

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Global map of regulatory ambient air quality monitoring stations real-time readings collected by AQICN.org - 13NOV2018

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Air Quality Monitoring

-

Remote Sensing

• Remote Sensing / Satellite collected data has for decades fulfilled many practical & policy applications for monitoring air pollution & environmental metrics across most every locale.

Remote Sensing data can be used for institutional & personal health & safety decisions.

When the data is available in real-time through the internet, then we can gain insights and discover the hotspots of air pollution most anywhere.

Remote Sensing technology is still evolving to improve accuracy and are not ready to replace regulatory monitoring systems.

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NASA’s Worldview & Suomi/VIIRS, 08NOV2018 – Inset: ESA’s Sentinel 5P Tropomi instrument Carbon Monoxide 10NOV2017

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Earth: www.earth.nullschool.net

a visualization (artistic

model) of global

weather and air quality

conditions “forecast by

supercomputers and

updated every three

hours.”

ocean surface current

estimates updated

every five days

Provides aerosol and

chemical layers from

NASA’s GEOS-5

(Goddard Earth

Observing System)

&

ESA’s CAMS

(Copernicus

Atmosphere Monitoring

System)

Twitter @cambecc

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- nexgenearth.info - 13NOV2018

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Air Quality Monitoring

-

Low-Cost Sensors

• Low-cost sensors (LCS) are being used for many practical & policy applications for monitoring air pollution especially at the ‘hyperlocal’ level.

• LCSs can be used for institutional & personal health & safety decisions.

• When the data is available in real-time through the internet, then we can gain insights and discover the hotspots of air pollution around our cities.

LCSs may not be able to replace regulatory monitoring systems with respect to accurate exposure measurements that epidemiologists and pathologists desire.

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Purple Air low-cost network in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada: August 14, 2017

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Comparison Of Hourly Averages Of PM2.5 (micrograms/m3) In July And August 2017, Kamloops, British Columbia, CanadaKamloops Federal Building (BAM) versus PurpleAir (n=10)

KamloopsFederalBuilding Lorne_mean Strathcona_mean SunRivers_mean HughAllan_mean BattleWest_mean MountDufferin_mean NicolaWest_mean Valleyview_mean Monmouth_mean Highridge_mean

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Northern India crop stubble smoke is detected by a AQI.in low-cost network - 11NOV2018 Noon – Indian NAQI values

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New Delhi India depicted by a AQI.in low-cost network - 08NOV2018 1645hrs – Indian NAQI values

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What’s the goal of the platforms and tools?

Generate Awareness

hyperlocal air pollution data

will generate a sense of

ownership and motivate

average citizens to change

their behaviour and = more

accountability governments

and regulators .

Increase Awareness and Accelerate Solutions

Monitor

Deploy networks of air

monitors in within and

around an expanding list

of cities.

Create visualizations of

the data

The data will provide

insights about the sources

and activities that create

air pollution

Solutions

Accelerate the adoption of

cleaner and clean energy as

city managers, policymakers,

and businesses

Photo credit: Pollution over Delhi from Sentinel-5P

10NOV2017

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Identification of Sources

Detect wildfires and seasonal

air quality events.

Traffic-related

Waste and garden debris fires

Wood burning events that are

causing unhealthy air. Pizza

ovens in Milan and New York

City have been regulated.

These acute & chronic sources

of pollution = hotspots or

microenvironments of pollution.

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Citizen Science projects promote Participatory Urbanism

& Community Engagement

Creating Awareness of Air Pollution-Charts, graphs, tables,

and maps of pollution and

the hyperlocal environment

create awareness

-Citizens can detect and

map hyperlocal pollution

“hotspots” and participate

in policymaking and

improving air quality in

their city and

neighbourhoods.

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Identification of Health Impact

-Researchers can detect and

correlate air pollution measurements

from low-cost, regulatory, and satellite

networks to hospitalization rates for

heart disease, stroke, respiratory and

other illnesses to which air pollution

contributes.

Health studies reveal exercise along

busy and congested streets is not

beneficial.

Activity apps Running, Cycling, and

Walking Apps are identifying the best

routes for exercise and commuting

safely.

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WHO’s Urban Health Initiative

(in collaboration with CCAC)

Health Impact Assessment (HIA)

Methods

WHO ambient air quality database

Regulatory and Sattelite-derived dataset

AirQ+

Air pollution risk assessment

Integrated Transport & Health Impact

Modelling Tool – ITHIM

Transport

Health Economic Assessment Tool - HEAT

Transport

iSThAT (Integrated Sustainable Transport &

Health Assessment Tool)

Transport

GreenS+

Transport and urban planning

Clean Household Energy Solutions Toolkit -

CHEST

Household Energy

WHO-CHOICE

Health Services

OneHealth

Health Services

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Take Action for SolutionsCitizens groups will be empowered to form broad networks and coalitions.

These groups will identify and notify the industries that are not using or

maintaining emissions controls. They can ask for responsible and sustainable

change.

People can help create roadmaps for policymakers.

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Are our actions working?

(intervention evaluation)Monitoring networks will allow us to know when our

actions to reduce air pollution are working.

We can make “Before and After” relative comparisons of changes in ambient levels

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Examples of Open Data sets, platforms, and tools

Government Regulatory (reference) Too many to list

AQICN.org Regulatory (reference)http://aqicn.org/map/#@g/22.4891/1.8281/3

z

OpenAQ.orgRegulatory (reference) https://openaq.org/

State of Global Air (HEI &

IHME)Regulatory (reference)

https://www.stateofglobalair.org/data/#/air/pl

ot

Berkeley Earth Air Quality

mapRegulatory (reference)

https://www.sentinel-

hub.com/explore/eobrowser

ESA CAMS data model Remote Sensinghttps://www.sentinel-

hub.com/explore/eobrowser

NASA GEOS data modelRemote Sensing

https://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/GEOS_systems/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=2012000

9164

NASA FIRMS – Fire data

& tools Remote Sensinghttps://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov

NASA Worldview Remote Sensing

https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/

https://earthdata.nasa.gov/earth-

observation-data/near-real-time/hazards-

and-disasters/air-quality

earth Remote Sensingearth.nullschool.net

3-min. introduction to earth -

https://youtu.be/MMmkooO52Z4

NexGen Earth Labs Remote Sensing https://www.nexgenearth.info/aqforecast

AQI.in Low-Cost https://www.aqi.in/

Luftdaten Low-Cost https://luftdaten.info/

Purple Air Low-Cost https://www.purpleair.com/

US EPA’s Environmental

Benefits Mapping and

Analysis Program -

Community Edition

(BenMAP-CE)

Environmental / Urban https://www.epa.gov/benmap

World Resources

Institute’s Resource WatchEnvironmental / Urban https://resourcewatch.org/data/explore

Our World in Data Environmental / Urban https://ourworldindata.org/

Clean Air Asia’s Cities

Clean Air PartnershipEnvironmental / Urban

http://cleanairasia.org/cities-clean-air-

partnership/http://cleanairasia.org/all-toolbox

Maharashtra, India state’s

Star Rating Program Environmental / Urban https://mpcb.info/

https://epic.uchicago.in/industries-join-

maharashtras-star-rating-program/

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Questions?Jeffery K Smith, World Health Organization (consultant), Geneva, smithj@who.int

Pawan Gupta, Ph.D. - NASA/GSFC – Huntsville, AL, USA - Pawan.Gupta@nasa.gov

Michael D. Mehta, Ph.D. - Thomson Rivers University, BC, Canada - mmehta@tru.ca

Dawn Lee, World Health Organization (consultant), Geneva, leeda@who.int

CANADA

info@ambiencedata.com

1.800.825.6915