Fred Dimmick

IMPROVING NATIONAL AIR QUALITY FORECASTS WITH SATELLITE AEROSOL OBSERVATIONS

Accurate air quality forecasts can allow for mitigation of the health risks associated with high levels of air pollution. During September 2003, a team of NASA, NOAA, and EPA researchers demonstrated a prototype tool for improving fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality forecasts using satellite aerosol observations. Daily forecast products were generated from a near-real-time fusion of multiple input data products, including aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)/Earth Observing System (EOS) instrument on the NASA Terra satellite, PM2.5 concentration from over 300 state/local/national surface monitoring stations, meteorological fields from the NOAA/NCEP Eta Model, and fire locations from the NOAA/National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) product. The products were disseminated via a Web interface to a small g...

Applications of the three-dimensional air quality system to western U.S. air quality: IDEA, smog blog, smog stories, airquest, and the remote sensing information gateway.

Abstract A system has been developed to combine remote sensing and ground-based measurements of aerosol concentration and aerosol light scattering parameters into a three-dimensional view of the atmosphere over the United States. Utilizing passive and active remote sensors from space and the ground, the system provides tools to visualize particulate air pollution in near real time and archive the results for retrospective analyses. The main components of the system (Infusing satellite Data into Environmental Applications [IDEA], the U.S. Air Quality Web log [Smog Blog], Smog Stories, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AIR Quest decision support system, and the Remote Sensing Information Gateway [RSIG]) are described, and the relationship of how data move from one system to another is outlined. To provide examples of how the results can be used to analyze specific pollution episodes, three events (two fires and one wintertime low planetary boundary layer haze) are discussed. Not all tools are useful at all times, and the limitations, including the sparsity of some data, the interference caused by overlying clouds, etc., are shown. Nevertheless, multiple sources of data help a state, local, or regional air quality analyst construct a more thorough picture of a daily air pollution situation than what one would obtain with only surface-based sensors.

3D-AQS, a Three-Dimensional Air Quality System

In 2006, we began a three-year project funded by the NASA Integrated Decisions Support program to develop a three-dimensional air quality system (3D-AQS). The focus of 3D-AQS is on the integration of aerosol-related NASA Earth Science Data into key air quality decision support systems used for air quality management, forecasting, and public health tracking. These will include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)s Air Quality System/AirQuest and AIRNow, Infusing satellite Data into Environmental Applications (IDEA) product, U.S. Air Quality weblog (Smog Blog) and the Regional East Atmospheric Lidar Mesonet (REALM). The project will result in greater accessibility of satellite and lidar datasets that, when used in conjunction with the ground-based particulate matter monitors, will enable monitoring across horizontal and vertical dimensions. Monitoring in multiple dimensions will enhance the air quality communitys ability to monitor and forecast the geospatial extent and transboundary transport of air pollutants, particularly fine particulate matter. This paper describes the concept of this multisensor system and gives current examples of the types of products that will result from it.

Process Emissions and Their Control—Part II

Publisher Summary Soil preparation operations, such as agricultural tilling, are a major source of fugitive particulate emissions. In an emissions inventory in 1976, agricultural tilling was found to be the third largest open source of particulate emissions in the United States. Pesticides include inorganic, synthetic organic, and non-synthetic organic insecticides and herbicides that are applied either in pure form or as part of a formulated product. Traditionally, heavy oils and solids were burned in open smudge pots to provide the heat necessary to prevent frost formation on the surface of fruit, ornamental, and foliage trees. However, this practice is no longer used. Today, fuel oil is burned in orchard heaters in many areas of the United States to provide frost protection. Emissions from harvesting consist of particulate matter composed of plant material, soil, and, often, trace levels of pesticides and other agriculturally applied chemicals. Three activities in this industry contribute significantly to air pollution: (1) wood pulping, (2) veneer drying and sanding, and (3) slash burning. Exciting new process developments are taking place in wood pulping, the most innovative being the application of biotechnology and chemi-mechanical techniques to pulping.

Chapter 7.5 Air quality characterization for environmental public health tracking

Abstract The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been given the mandate to develop a national environmental public health tracking network (Tracking Network). The Tracking Network will require both environmental and public health data to be routinely available at a national scale. Historically, the only source of air quality data in the United States that was available on an ongoing and systematic basis at national levels was generated by ambient air monitoring networks put in place for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Air Quality Programs. However, new analysis techniques are being developed to use air quality modeling forecasts and satellite data to provide additional information to characterize air quality on a routine basis. With the publics expanding interest in the serious health effects associated with ozone and fine particles, public health officials are looking for ways to better use the available air quality data for use in the Tracking Network. The EPA and the CDC have conducted a collaborative effort entitled the Public Health Air Surveillance Evaluation (PHASE) to evaluate various air quality data sets, from routinely available sources, for specific use by public health officials. The U.S. EPA generated air quality data sets using ambient monitoring data, modeling results, and statistically combined monitoring and modeling data. The EPA, in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is also exploring the integration of satellite data with monitoring and modeling data sets to improve available air quality information. The resulting air quality estimates were provided to the CDCs Tracking Network State partners to evaluate the use of these air quality data sets in tracking potential associations between air quality and public health impacts (asthma and cardiovascular disease).