Real-time Source Identification for Pollution Hotspots: Online Tool

In order to reduce air pollution, you need to know what is causing it. However, block level (hyper-local) variability in air pollution is often caused by sources that aren't characterized well in "official" emissions inventories. Worse yet, in many developing countries, there are no official emissions inventories. Linking emissions sources to areas of high pollution (air pollution "hotspots") is sometimes as "simple" as looking upwind from those hotspots. Especially with hyper-local hotspots, the sources that cause them are often nearby. We are presenting a mobile-friendly website that will make the relationship between high levels of air pollution and nearby emissions sources visible to grass-roots advocates, citizen-scientists, regulators, and anyone interested in learning more about sources of air pollution.

Using Salt Lake City as a proof of concept, this tool will integrate a map of real time air pollution measurements from air sensors already deployed on a public transit system (TRAX), and use a weather model to develop and overlay "footprints" showing the area of influence upwind of those measurements, ie: the area where the air likely traveled over before being measured. The map will have a layer of publicly "known" emissions sources (ie: power plants, industrial facilities, roads, restaurants), and it will also have the ability for the user to report the location and type of additional potential sources, located in that footprint, that are missing from current inventories. This "boots on the ground" source identification will provide valuable information that is likely unknowable given current processes. By integrating these tools within a single, user-friendly platform, we will help the public visualize the relationship between air pollution, weather and emissions sources, making science-heavy information accessible. City air quality specialists can use the data generated and collected for real time air quality management and response to pollution events.