Combining Low-cost Air Quality Sensors with a Micronet for Fine-scale Monitoring in NYC

Ellie Hojeily, JANIE SCHWAB, Jason Covert, Kit Moore, Matthew Brooking, Sarah Lu, Md. Aynul Bari, Scott Miller, University at Albany, SUNY

     Abstract Number: 736
     Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods

Abstract
The New York City Metropolitan Area includes 37 sites that are part of two meteorological networks continuously monitoring weather-related parameters: the New York State Mesonet (NYSM, established 2017), and the New York City Micronet (NYCM, established 2020). Both networks were installed and are maintained by the NYSM which is based at the University at Albany. We designed and built low-cost air quality sensor packages to measure particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen monoxide at these sites. The stand-alone packages are mounted to NYSM and NYCM towers at roughly 2 m above the surface, and utilize NYSM power and communications infrastructure. The air quality sensors are sampled every 5 seconds and data are retrieved hourly by NYSM servers. Prior to deployment at field sites, the packages were co-located with NYS Department of Environmental Conservation reference-grade instruments at Queens College in NYC for one month. Data during the co-location period were used to develop calibration models. Deployment at 21 NYSM sites and 16 NYCM sites is expected to be completed in summer 2023. The sensor calibration approach and performance compared with reference-grade instruments will be presented, and preliminary temporal and spatial results from the air quality sensor network will be shown, including the June 2023 Canadian wildfire event.