Faculty Mentor: Heather Holmes (Chemical Engineering, University of Utah)

The increase in extreme wildfires across the United States over the past few decades has raised the demand for effective response protocols. Among these protocols is the ability to monitor, identify, and report extreme air pollution events. These events are known as exceptional events, which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines as “unusual or naturally occurring events that can affect air quality but are not reasonably controllable using techniques that tribal, state or local air agencies may implement in order to attain and maintain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards” (2024). Local governments must compile reports of exceptional events and submit them to the EPA if they wish to meet heath-based attainment standards in order to avoid “restrictions on federal transportation funding or new-source permitting in the affected regions” (David et al., 2021, para. 2). Thus, an efficient method for collecting, compiling, and presenting relevant exceptional event data is in high demand, particularly in the western U.S. with the increasing wildfire smoke pollution.

The aim of the proposed project is to aid in the development of an online exceptional event tool being designed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SoCal) as part of a Western States Air Resources Council (WESTAR) program. This tool provides air quality managers with an interface to easily collect and compile data from an online API. The managers would then be able to import the data into a word document report in the format required by the EPA. The general goal is to help identify wildfire smoke in ambient air pollution records using EPA-approved methods for improved documentation and reporting purposes.

My contributions to the project will include using R to incorporate Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) Aerosol Layer Height data products into the WESTAR Exceptional Event app interface to allow air quality managers to see images of smoke plume height from wildfires. This addition will build on top of my current contribution, which is adding a ‘tab’ for NOx satellite image generation. This information will allow managers to determine the health risks a particular wildfire poses towards surrounding populations. For example, lower wildfire pollution heights pose substantially higher health risks to affected populations than higher pollution heights because of the smoke’s ability to mix down to the surface. This information is critical to the proper documentation and reporting of exceptional events with acute elevated surface air pollution concentrations. Thus, providing air quality managers with easy access to this data product will help streamline the reporting process.

Bibliography

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Huang, J., Loría-Salazar, S. M., Deng, M., Lee, J., & Holmes, H. A. (2023). Assessment of smoke plume height products derived from multisource satellite observations for wildfire in the western US. In EGUsphere. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1658.

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US Epa, O. (2021). What is an exceptional event? https://www.epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data/what-exceptional-event

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Zhang, H., Wang, Y., Park, T.-W., & Deng, Y. (2017). Quantifying the relationship between extreme air pollution events and extreme weather events. Atmospheric Research, 188, 64–79.