Low Cost Air Quality Sensing for Studies in African Cities
Abstract
Urbanization, coupled with increased industrialization, growing ownership of motor vehicles, and continued use of biomass as domestic energy source, may lead to substantial worsening of air quality (AQ) across the continent. Rapid urban population growth, air pollution emissions, and changing patterns of disease in African cities may increase the burden of air pollution-related morbidity and mortality in coming decades. There is an increasing awareness of the health and economic costs of air pollution. In the past several years, the field of portable air quality sensing technology has evolved at a rapid pace, with products now commercially available for ozone, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter PM), volatile organic compounds, as well as for other pollutants. Several initiatives have taken place worldwide to collect AQ information based on mobile sensing and communication technologies. While the potential for these technologies is great, significant challenges in their application remain. As part of a proof-of-concept study, we deployed custom-built handheld sunphotometers, along with new-generation Purple Air PM sensors (PM1, PM2.5, PM10) to sites in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Palapye, Botswana. Results from the first year of these measurements are presented, including sun photometer aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angstrom Exponent, along with PM2.5. The AOD measurements are compared with satellite-retrieved AOD by MODIS.
The authors acknowledge the support by the National Science Foundation (NSF) International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program (Grant #OISE-1559308)- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.A31P2685B
- Keywords:
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- 0345 Pollution: urban and regional;
- ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE;
- 0394 Instruments and techniques;
- ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE