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GEO Task US-09-01aHealth SBA

SBA: Health – Air Quality

Analyst: Rudolf Husar, Washington University/LanternCo-Analyst: Stefan Falke, Wash. U./Northrop Grumm.

Current Status of Report:

Awaiting feedback from Task Lead & some AQ members

Date Final Report will be completed (if not already):

April/May 2010?

Sub-Areas Analyzed

Scope Focus: Air Quality

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AQ Observation Sub-Areas

• Pollutant Parameters

• Observation Coverage

• Observation Strategy/Utility

AQ System Subareas

• Primary, Secondary Emissions

• Ambient Concentrations

Prioritization Methodology

Prioritization uses three independent (orthogonal) measures of EOs:

• Pollutants: What is the health effect potency of the pollutant;

• Coverage: Spatial-temporal coverage of the EOs;

• Utility: Applicability of the EO for multiple aspects of AQH

EOs are ranked by each measure individually. The overall priority is the subjectively weighed sum of the 3-dimensional rankings.

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Prioritization Methodology

Pollutants: WHO Guidelines Identifies pollutants and their max values

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Coverage: Number of AQ monitoring stations by country/continent

Utility: WHO Guidelines Identifies pollutants and their max values

Note: Bibliometric data on pollutants, coverage and utility were collected and analyzed but used only as a backup/consistency check in the prioritization.

Searching for monitoring stations by country, pollutant, …

Cataloging by country, pollutant, …

Comparing AQ monitoring densities in developing and

Analyst Feedback on Methodology

The general template for the priority EOs is good for integrating the priorities for all SBAs, all apps in each SBA.

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Analyst Feedback on Methodology

Would you recommend this methodology for other US-09-01a reports in the future? (either as is, or in a modified form?)

Would recommend Methods A and B, but with Method A (Key Parameters) in a modified form.

Developing a more formalized method for designating Key Parameters would improve the transparency and repeatability

– E.g., frequency analysis for designation of key parameters, but that would require a larger body of literature to have a robust sample

– E.g., have all Advisory Group members “vote” on the key parameters to limit individual influence

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Priorities Identified

Number of priority parameters identified: 12

List parameters from Chapter 5, and note whether they are in priority order, no order, tiered lists, etc. (use 2nd slide as needed):

Two ordered tiers (High & Medium), descending priority

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Interpretation of Results

Note any “themes” that emerged, surprising or expected conclusions, considerations for incorporating results into Cross-SBA Analysis.

• RE resource endowment varies by region, so will priorities

• Forecasting (e.g., wind) is very important, so meteorological models and required parameters are especially important

• Required parameter characteristics (e.g., spatial resolution) varies considerably according to end user/purpose

• Advisory Group felt strongly about identifying “key” or enabling parameters, rather than coming up with a longer list of tangentially relevant parameters

• UIC should consider sponsoring Primary Research to fill gaps in documentation of end user needs

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Limitations/ Caveats

Additional notes about interpretation of priority results – i.e., inherent biases, gaps, overlaps with other SBA reports, etc.

• In general, documentation of user needs was limited – Analyst had to infer user needs in some cases

• Solar and wind energy had the most information available – hydropower, bioenergy, and geothermal were lacking.

• Other major potential Energy SBA topics are building energy efficiency, load forecasting, and climate change-energy topics (e.g., geologic carbon sequestration, utility planning)

– These topics would likely rely on similar sets of solar and meteorological parameters, though ranked differently

• Developing RE is part of climate change mitigation, and therefore overlaps considerably with the Climate SBA

• Hydropower and fossil fuels dependent on water cycle – overlaps considerably with Water SBA 9

Obs. Category Parameter Spatial Priority

Aggregated Observation CharacteristicsSpatial

ResolutionTemporal

Resolution Accuracy LatencyTier 1             

Ambient  PM2.5 Africa, Asia1 km city  10km rural 1-hr 10-20%1-3 hours

Ambient  SO2 Africa, Asia1 km city  10km rural 1-hr 10-20%1-3 hours

Ambient  NO2 Africa, Asia1 km city  10km rural 1-hr 10-20%1-3 hours

Ambient  O3 Africa, Asia1 km city  10km rural 1-hr 10-20%1-3 hours

Ambient  PM10 Africa, Asia1 km city  10km rural 1-hr 10-20%1-3 hours

             Tier 2            

Ambient, Emissions, SRR Column PM2.5 Global 1-10 km 1-hr 20%1-3 hours

Ambient, Emissions, SRR Column SO2 Global 1-10 km 1-hr 20%1-3 hours

Ambient, Emissions, SRR Column NO2 Global 1-10 km 1-hr 20%1-3 hours

Ambient, Emissions, SRR Column O3 Global 1-10 km 1-hr 20%1-3 hours

Ambient PM10 Global 1-10 km 1-hr 10-20%1-3 hours             Tier 3            Exposure Population Global 1 km city  1 year 20%  Ambient Weather Global 1-10 km 1-hr 2%1-3 hours

Ambient, Emissions, SRR PM2.5 Comp. Global 1-10 km 1-hr; 1-day 10-20%1-3 weeksEmission, SRR VOCs Global 1-10 km 1-hr 10-20%1-3 weeks

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