AIRNow: U.S. EPAs Real-time and Forecast Air Quality ProgramRichard A. Chet WaylandOffice of Air Quality Planning & StandardsU.S. Environmental Protection AgencyResearch Triangle Park, North Carolina

Real Time Air Pollution DataExchange and Forecast WorkshopCopenhagen, DenmarkApril 7-8, 2005

OutlineWhat is AIRNow? Collection of Data and Forecasts Control / Management of Data Communication of Data Benefits/Results/Lessons learned

What is AIRNow? Centralized national air quality networkStarted in 1998 AIRNow provides a common framework for acquiring and distributing air quality information (data, forecasts, health effects, news and educational information)Diverse stakeholder community Federal, State, provincial, Tribal and local air agenciesScientific and health research organizations Media and public outreach groups

How AIRNow Works Hourly AIRNow Data Flow

Collection of Data and Forecasts(1 of 4)115+ agencies submitAir quality notification: Data and Forecasts (3 of 4)

Collection of Data and Forecasts(2 of 4)data from 1500+ monitors and forecasts from 300+ citiesOzone & PM monitorsForecast Cities

Collection of Data and Forecasts(3 of 4)Data submitted through Internet File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

Forecast submittal systemWeb-based Multiple pollutants Multiple days Manual and automated

Collection of Data and Forecasts (4 of 4)Types of forecastsPollutantsOzone, summer, 312 citiesPM2.5, year-round, 150 citiesPM10, year-round, 35 citesCO, year-round, 5 citiesPeriodsCurrent-day, next-day maximum5-day maximum3 hourly

Control / Management of DataAutomated quality control systemChecks: Maximum, Minimum, Constant, Buddy, and Rate of Change Customizable by pollutant, site, hourManual override by staff

Control / Management of DataSupporting Web sites and purposesAIRNow statusAnnouncements and data delivery status

AIRNow NotifierAir quality related stories and eventsCentralized contact information database

AIRNow-TechData queries, site information, and resources

Communication of DataStandardized output: Air Quality Index (AQI)An index for reporting air qualityUniform throughout the United StatesColor has been the key

Animation and peak mapsCommunication Products (2 of 4)

Current hour mapsOzone Contour MapPM2.5 Point MapCommunication Products (3 of 4)

Specialized mapsObserved Peak AQI MapAir Quality Forecast MapWeekend National Air Quality Outlook MapCommunication Products (4 of 4)

Benefits/Results Improves data qualityEncourages monitor deployment Increases awareness and understanding of air pollution Improves public health protectionStrengthens the partnership among different organizations (for example, Scientists, Researchers and Communicators) Promotes advances in air quality science and data analyses

Lessons Learned Everyone is nervous about real-time dataAgency firewalls can be problematic for real-time data deliveryAutomation is essentialFeedback loop with data providers is criticalAir Quality forecasting is relatively new and much support is needed for operational forecastingForecasts need to be from an authoritative agencyCommunication to the media and public needs to be simple, easy to understand, and consistentPartnerships are key!

AIRNow website:www.airnow.gov

for more information:wayland.richard@epa.gov

Good afternoon.

It is indeed a pleasure to be here today and I would like to thank the European Environment Agency for their invitation to participate in this workshop. I have been fortunate enough to have been involved from the early stages of the USEPAs Real-time and forecast air quality program known as AIRNow and hope to share some information on what we have learned and how our program works as well as to gain new knowledge from all of you in this fast evolving area in the management/communication of air quality.Briefly, I will give a quick overview of what the AIRNow program is, discuss what I call the 3 Cs of our program, Collection, Control and Communication and then close with a few slides on the benefits and lesson learned.In the United States, each state and in some cases, each local (city or county) air quality agency is responsible for their own monitoring network. So the actual data collection process was historically, decentralized. AIRNow provides a Centralized framework for collecting these data from decentralized networks through a common framework. This includes the collection, processing and distribution of the information.

It is comprised on a very diverse stakeholder community of federal, state, provincial, tribal and local air agencies. It also includes scientific and health research organizations such as Universities, consultants, and research laboratories. Finally, on the distribution end of the spectrum, we have the media (newspaper, TV) and various outreach groups such as American Lung Association, National Asthma Coalition, etc.All of these groups work together to provide a central clearinghouse for real-time and forecast air quality information that we call AIRNow. This is our homepage and it links everything together the air quality data, the associated health impacts, information on actions individuals can take to reduce pollution and to protect their health as well as links back to traditional regulatory information on air quality controls.As an overview, here is how the AIRNow program works.

State and local air agencies monitor the data and develop the actual air quality forecasts.

They submit those data to our Data Management Center, which acts as a central clearinghouse for all of these data. The data are processed in the DMC, then delivered to the media for further use in their own data distribution systems and to the internet for direct access by the public. Either way, the information ends up in the hands of the public and environmental and health decision makers.

All of this occurs each hour inside of a 30-40 minute window.As I said the data are delivered from over 115 different federal, provincial, state, local and tribal agencies across North America,These data encompass 1500+ monitors for both ground-level ozone and particulate matter, with the PM mostly fine particles (PM2.5) and some coarse particles (PM10).

In addition, we also receive next-day air quality forecasts from 312 cities across the United States.Data is submitted to the Data Management System through basic FTP in a standard format that is generated at the Data Logger for each monitor. The data actually go from the monitor to a state/local agency and then are FTPd directly to the DMC, usually within 5 minutes after the hour.

For air quality forecasts, the DMC has a simple web-based submittal system that allows each agency to submit its forecast directly to the DMC. They have flexibility to submit for multiple pollutants, multiple days and can provide supporting forecast discussions if desired.With regards to our forecasting program, we receive forecasts from 312 cities for ozone, mostly in the summer season (May through September) and year-round forecasts from about 150 cities for PM2.5, and 35 for PM10

We just initiated the PM forecasting program in October of 2003 and we anticipate that number expanding as more cities come on board.

Most forecasts are current day and next-day with the ability to submit up to a 5-day maximum forecast.The heart and soul of the DMC is the automated quality control system that allows for real-time data to actually happen. If we had to rely on manual QA/QC, we could never achieve the 30 minute turn-around time we currently provide.

We allow the data providers to set their QA/QC levels and these include data checks for Maximum, Minimum, Constant, Buddy and rate of Change. These allow each monitor to be QA/QCd in a unique fashion.

While all this is automated, it does allow for manual override by our Data Management Center staff.The other key for Control of the data is to provide an auto-feedback loop to the data providers so they know when things are not right or data is missing. We have several mechanisms in place to provide this capability

AIRNow status provides detailed statistics on what data has been delivered, how complete it was and how timely it was in delivery. It can trigger automatic emails to the data providers to alert them to problems.

AIRNow Notifier is basically a listserve that agencies can subscribe to for updates, news stories on air quality, and system information. This centralized database for contact information assures us that we have the latest and best contact information for all our partners.

AIRNow-Tech provides the data providers with access to their data and that of all of the AIRNow partners so they can do analyses, look at upwind sites for forecasting support and look at monitor performance over time.The final C is Communication. It does not matter if you have the most sophisticated data monitoring and delivery system in the world in you cant communicate the data in a way that is useful and understandable to the public.

Thats where the Air Quality Index is so critical. It provides a standardized output that links air quality concentrations to health effects and puts it into terms that are easy to understand. The real key has been to use of color in the index as that has made it even simpler for people to grasp. Green is good Orange and Red are bad. It also makes it easy to get the information in the media as they like color and flashy graphics.AIRNow provides several ways of communicating the data we use animations, where we bring in the hourly data, interpolate it over 20 minute intervals and create these animated gifs that show the development of poor air quality over time and space. These have been wonderful tools for educating people about the temporal and spatial behavior of ground level ozone for example.We also provide the current hour in static maps so people can see the latest data without having to loop through an animation. For ozone we have the interpolated contour maps. For PM2.5, we have what we call bubble maps or point maps. This was necessary because we did not have enough monitors to allow for a good interpolation, so we went with the point location maps that reflects the hourly data. These also animate, but are not as impressive as the contour maps.In addition, we have specialized maps that provide more details such as the observed peak AQI map.

All of the forecasts we receive are displayed on a forecast map that shows next-day forecasts by AQI color code with links back to local websites for each agency/city

And we have a 3-4 day outlook map that is manually generated to provide some longer-term general outlooks for people. This map in particular is intended to look similar to weather charts that the public is use to seeing (with fronts, and weather systems indicated).I have tried to provide a quick overview of the program and here are some of the many benefits that we have seen since we began in 1998.

Having the data out there for everyone to see each hour has forced data providers to improve the quality of their data.

It has exposed areas where monitoring is needed and the public demand has often resulted in funding for new monitors in those data sparse areas.

The public and media are much better educated on air quality because of these data, maps and forecasts,

We are bringing researchers and communicators together as they are both using the same data and having to explain what it means.

It has led to new ways of looking at data. Before the AIRNow program, there was no way to use real-time satellite data and ambient data to benefit public health in real-time. Having these data readily available has opened numerous new opportunities for collaboration across government agencies and academia.However, these benefits did not come with some hard lessons learned

Go through list.

and were still learning, so Im sure our list will continue to grow.Id like to close by providing the URL where you can get more on the AIRNow program and my contact information.

Thank you again for your invitation to present here today and I look forward to taking your insights back to my colleagues as we continue to try and improve our program.