AIRNow: Real Time Air Quality Presented to the Environmental Science Institute for Teachers July 14, 2010 Phil Dickerson, US EPA

Health Effects of Air Pollution Air pollution affects everyone Aggravates –lung disease, including asthma –heart disease, including congestive heart failure Resulting in: –More premature deaths –More admissions to hospitals –More trips to emergency rooms –More visits to doctors’ offices –More school and work absences –More symptom days

What AIRNow does Coordination Centralization Air Quality Index conversion Education Distribution About AIRNow

Began in 1997 Funded by United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Diverse stakeholder community – Federal, state, provincial, tribal and local air agencies (120+) – Scientific and health research organizations (15+) – Media and public outreach groups (30+) Education and outreach Substantial growth and data exchange International activities State and Local Air Agencies ObservationsForecasts AIRNowDataManagementCenter Internet Media DecisionMakersandPublic Data Maps and Forecasts About AIRNow

Real-time, hourly maps and data Forecasts (300+ cities) News stories, e.g. wildfires Web cams (air quality) Seasonal air comparisons AIRNow Products

Other Media Outlets National Media Newspaper Communication Data and Forecasts AIRNow web site Decision Makers and Public Cell phone and pagers Local air agency websites Local Media h

Real time air quality alerts State and local environmental agencies configure their own “look” Subscribers can receive full, graphical s or short text messages for mobile devices Subscribers manage their own accounts and choose the level at which they are notified

It’s not just a system, it’s a community Annual conference Regional cooperation Daily interaction with stakeholders Support during air quality events, emergencies AIRNow’s “Human Side” Leveraging state, local, and federal resources by collecting and distributing data back to partners, as well as to media outlets

Goals –International collaboration and knowledge exchange –Develop AIRNow2.0 - First major release in 10 years Improve U.S. system by leveraging efforts Add features to enable international use –Promote local, national and international data exchange Agency to agency and agency to Public About AIRNow-International

Realtime Data Files Administration AIRNow Data Management System (DMS) AIRNow Information Services AIRNow Mapper Web Services AIRNow Database Web Services * Data Files* Maps* Image layers* Inputs Processing, Quality Assurance, Reporting Outputs *Outputs will conform to international standards to promote sharing and interoperability = file = web service = module = data/info transfer AIRNow International System (Conceptual and Functional Design & Data Flow)

April 2008: MOU signed between Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) and EPA to begin AIRNow-I pilot project January 2009: Beta testing begins June 2009: OAQPS delegation visits Shanghai to oversee installation of final hardware and software and conduct training May 2010: Public release of air quality information at the Shanghai World Expo About AIRNow-International

A Short Demo…