Daily U.S. air quality forecasts for particulate matter could potentially be more accurate as the result of incorporating NASA’s Earth-observing satellite data, according to a recent study.
Lead investigator of the study, Rajesh Kumar of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, incorporated, every three hours, satellite data of aerosol optical depth into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC). These changes have resulted in an approximately 38% improvement in the accuracy of the particulate pollutants reported in the NAQFC tests, which contributes to daily Air Quality Index (AQI) forecasts created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
An AQI forecast is commonly used by meteorologists and others to create air quality alerts to warn vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with asthma and other respiratory diseases, who are especially at risk for health-related effects from particulate air pollution.
NOAA in partnership with EPA issues daily air quality forecast guidance as part of a national Air Quality Forecasting Capability. When creating an AQI forecast, the EPA and various state agencies rely on information from NOAA’s NAQFC program. NOAA's Pius Lee says he and his team began including NASA satellite data into the NAQFC last year for pre-implementation testing. Previously they relied on sophisticated statistical modeling to correct model estimates of air quality instead of satellite measurements.
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