Air quality forecasting gets a boost from NASA grant

Washington State University has received a grant to use satellite data to improve forecasts of air quality in the Northwest.

Using readings collected from three NASA satellites, scientists will get a better picture of pollutants in the region, in part so officials may issue air quality alerts when conditions are poor.

The new information will bolster WSU’s 5-year-old AIRPACT project – which stands for Air Indicator Reporting for Public Access and Community Tracking. The system predicts concentrations of ozone and air toxics in Washington, Idaho and Oregon on a daily basis; the new satellite information will help expand the level of detailed data available for the forecasts.

“We’ve been working really hard on this forecasting system, and this really represents a step ahead for us,” said Brian Lamb, professor of civil and environmental engineering and researcher in the Laboratory for Atmospheric Research at WSU.

Over three years, the AIRPACT project will receive roughly $900,000 from NASA. Researchers work with environmental officials in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and provide information that officials across the region can use in deciding whether to limit field burning, for example, or declare air quality alerts.

NASA has launched three satellite systems in recent years that gather atmospheric information worldwide and has encouraged the use of the information by researchers and officials in aviation, air quality, natural resources and other areas.

Lamb said that current air quality forecasting is done by taking readings of air quality for pollutants at various sites around the region, then calculating how the readings will respond based on the weather forecast.

The satellite information will provide snapshots of pollution concentrations regionwide – in detail as small as 10-square-mile areas.

It will also provide details about pollution over the Pacific Ocean, which often heads our way.

“Most of our air comes from the Pacific Ocean, from west to east,” Lamb said.