Air Quality Assessment

vGeo is currently being used to visualize data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Data from these agencies is being brought together in vGeo to help make better assessments of air quality. vGeo’s unique ability to combine diverse data sets into comprehensive visualizations is key to its success in this work.

The data being visualized includes:

• Daily MODIS Aerosol Optical Depth and Cloud Optical Thickness from NASA’s Terra satellite provide a daily, synoptic view of aerosols.
• Hourly in situ aerosol measurements from EPA’s TEOM network of ground sensors provide frequent measurements near populous areas.
• Surface and upper-level winds from NOAA weather models provide information on weather patterns and wind flow.
• Air parcel trajectories from NOAA’s Hysplit-4 model are used to predict movement of polluted air.