AAAR 36th Annual Conference October 16 - October 20, 2017 Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract View
Using Low-Cost Sensors to Probe Changes in Urban Aerosol on a Neighborhood Scale
KAITLYN LIESCHKE, Alexis Shusterman, Catherine Newman, Jinsol Kim, Ronald Cohen, UC Berkeley
Abstract Number: 741 Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract Human aerosol exposure and related risk are typically monitored using spatially-sparse measurements by expensive, robust instruments. However, as aerosol concentrations can change dynamically within a neighborhood these measurements lack the spatial resolution to adequately address the question of changing individual exposures within a region. The BErkeley Atmospheric CO2 Observation Network (BEACO2N) employs a range of low-cost air quality sensors to monitor aerosols, CO2 and other air quality gases in the San Francisco Bay Area. By reducing the cost of each node, a greater number can be deployed, resulting in a network that currently contains over 50 nodes distributed on a grid of approximately 2km x 2km. The network, which was established in 2012 and is continuing to expand, can be used to supplement to the typical one or two monitoring sites within a city. Using this unique platform, we are able to observe aerosol gradients across a community as well as localized events that result in high aerosol loadings at a given site. In addition, by combining the changes in aerosol concentrations with measurements of other gases and meteorological conditions, it is possible to identify the sources of local air pollution events.