The Data Gap: Air Quality Networks Miss Air Pollution from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (Invited Presentation)

In the U.S., the agricultural sector is the largest controllable source of several air pollutants, including ammonia (NH3), a key precursor to PM2.5 formation. Livestock waste is the dominant contributor to ammonia emissions. In contrast to most controllable air pollutants, ammonia mixing ratios, now detectable from space-based platforms, are rising. The number of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that generate considerable livestock waste is also increasing. Spatial and temporal trends in USDA-reported animal numbers normalized by county area at medium and large sized CAFOs provide plausible explanations for patterns in satellite- derived NH3 over the contiguous U.S. (CONUS). Correlation between summertime ammonia derived from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and CAFO animal unit density in 2017 is positive and significant (r=0.642; p≈0). The temporal change from 2002-2017 in animal unit density and NH3 derived from NASA’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) are spatially similar. Ambient concentrations of PM2.5 surface mass in agricultural regions is difficult to assess relative to urban population centers. Yet, results suggest that in agricultural areas where ammonia and animal density is highest, air quality improvement lags behind the national average.