Description:

Air quality (AQ) remains a significant concern globally. In many regions, the cost to install and maintain high-grade sensors is prohibitive, thus many people have little or no information about their local AQ. Strong community interest has led to the development of citizen science initiatives that provide new insights about local AQ. Some of these networks rely on mobile applications and/or social media for participants to relay observations through their smartphones. Additionally, due to an intersection of commercial and home-made activities, there has been a growth in the development of low-cost sensors. This has allowed more “citizen scientists” (CS) to deploy these sensors outside and inside their homes, businesses, and schools. The sensors, which can use the internet to broadcast valuable information, provide new insights into the temporal and spatial variability of AQ across communities. The data from these low-cost sensors are also being combined with more traditional measurements and observations in the scientific community. For example, the use of satellite observations for air quality monitoring is emerging and advancing quickly, and the global air quality community is now moving towards a hybrid system where regulatory, low-cost sensors and satellite observations play their role. As a research community, what do we do with all of this new “data”? In this session, we welcome all discussions about using low-cost sensors, satellites, and models (or any of the hybrid approaches) as well as citizen science for AQ research.