air monitor

Mar 13, 2015

Training Citizen Scientists to Monitor Air Quality

air monitor, air monitoring research, air quality, air research, air sensors, Citizen science, Citizen Science Toolbox, Cory Booker, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Family Success Center, Ironwood New Jersey, Newark New Jersey, Ras Baraka 2 Comments

By Amanda Kaufman

Next-generation air monitor developed by EPA researchers

As a science fellow at EPA, I am working with Agency researchers to help bring local air measurement capabilities to communities. This includes training citizen scientists with next generation air monitors developed by EPA researchers. One such device is the Citizen Science Air Monitor, which contains many sophisticated instruments to measure air quality under its sleek and simple design.

Today, Administrator Gina McCarthy is joining New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, and other community members at Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood Family Success Center to launch an EPA-Ironbound partnership for community air monitoring that is a first of its kind citizen science project. Read the press release.

The monitor does a lot for being so small and portable. It measures two air pollutants—nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter—as well as relative humidity and temperature. Residents of the Ironbound community are using the monitors to measure pollutants in different locations, during different times of the day and under a variety of weather conditions. The community is impacted by many sources of air pollutants.

In January, I traveled to Newark with researchers who developed the monitor to help train members of the Ironbound Community Corporation to use and maintain the monitors and collect data. The training was very hands-on and the participants were enthusiastic. They even turned the exercise for assembling the monitors into a friendly competition.

EPA researchers shared two training manuals that they developed as part of the outreach project. The quality assurance guidelines and operating procedures manuals are available to the public and are part of an online Citizen Science Toolbox developed to assist citizen scientists who are interested in using new air sensor technologies.

While the quality assurance guidelines and operating procedure are specific to the monitor developed for the Ironbound community, many of the concepts detailed in the documents are transferable to similar air quality monitoring efforts using next generation air monitors. The manuals are:

The Citizen Science Air Monitor (CSAM) Quality Assurance Guidelines provides basic information to ensure that the environmental data collected in their monitoring project is credible and usable.

The Citizen Science Air Monitor (CSAM) Operating Procedure manual provides users simple, step-by-step instructions on how to use the CSAM, including software installation and setup, performance checks, field operation, data collection, and data processing.

The ultimate goal of the research project is to empower people with information to address their local air quality concerns. I am glad to be a part of this important activity empowering a community to monitor their local quality

About the Author: Amanda Kaufman is an ORISE participant hosted by EPA’s Air, Climate, and Energy national research program.

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Sep 3, 2013

DISCOVER-AQ: Reaching for the Sky with Student Citizen Scientists

air monitor, air monitoring research, air research, air sensor technology, Citizen science, DISCOVER-AQ, epa, NASA, Science Education, STEM 4 Comments

By Dana Buchbinder

DISCOVER-AQ aircraft takes to the sky. Image courtesy of NASA.

As school reopens with bouquets of newly-sharpened yellow pencils (as they say in the movies), even recent graduates like me get swept up in the excitement: a new season of academic discovery! This fall, an EPA partnership with NASA is helping the next generation of students experience the thrill of air quality research first-hand.

During this mission, named DISCOVER-AQ (the “AQ” stands for “air quality”), our team will employ the help of young “citizen scientists” in Houston to test new compact sensor technologies for measuring ozone and nitrogen dioxide air pollutants at the earth’s surface.

A science teacher and EPA researcher stand beneath a new compact air sensor students will operate at a Houston, Texas public school.

Citizen science is a style of research that encourages inexperienced and even very young participants to help with professionally organized research projects. Volunteers collect simple field data that would be difficult for the lead researches to gather without many hands. If projects inspire awe, discovery, and insight along the way, well, that was part of the plan.

The multi-year DISCOVER-AQ project uses airplanes and ground-based instruments to help scientists better understand how to measure and forecast air quality globally from space. My colleagues recently installed compact ground-based devices for the third of four DISCOVER-AQ field missions. The devices—small enough to be held in one hand—were placed at eight Houston area public schools. EPA-trained teachers will lead their students in operating the new air monitors. Elementary, middle, and high school students will contribute the data they collect to the EPA research team, helping professional scientists develop needed updates to methods of standardizing air quality measurements across the country.

Compact air sensor that students will operate as part of the EPA-NASA project DISCOVER-AQ.

EPA DISCOVER-AQ researcher Dr. Russell Long reports, “The school’s principals and teachers are very excited about what’s going on; they say it’s a great opportunity for their students.” These educators have already requested that EPA scientists working with the schools to ensure high quality data will double as guest speakers for the classes, helping kids make the connection between book science and research in action. The scientists are thrilled to participate. We are fine-tuning a set of air, climate, and energy activities to support the project’s science concepts in classrooms.

NASA partners also see the project as a unique opportunity for sharing their work with young people. In the NASA component of the project, pilots will fly aircraft fitted with air monitoring equipment at scheduled times over the schools. The flight data will be matched with ground-based data to help researchers measure air pollutants that permeate the air column. Students will be able to talk with the pilots during these coordinated fly-overs while they watch the planes approach on a tracking app and then zoom overhead!

DISCOVER-AQ is science far beyond the laboratory. The experience will be unmatched for hundreds of students who may not have considered science as a captivating career before. These student scientists can feel proud they’re contributing to fundamental research to help NASA and EPA protect human health and the environment. I look forward to hearing what the students find out!

About the author: Dana Buchbinder is a Student Services Contractor supporting EPA’s Air, Climate, and Energy national research program. She enjoys working on Rachel Carson-worthy projects that help scientists, pre-scientists, and non-scientists “rediscover…the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.”