Project team members are listed alphabetically by last name.
Stefan Falke, Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Box 1180, St. Louis, Missouri 63130 USA stefan@wustl.edu
Rudolf Husar, Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Box 1180, St. Louis, Missouri 63130 USA rhusar@wustl.edu
Akshara Kaginalkar, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Sc&Eng Computing Group, Pune, INDIA akshara@cdac.in
Rakesh Kumar, Mumbai Zonal Center, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, 89B, Dr.A.B.Road, Worli, Mumbai-400 018, INDIA r_kumar@neeri.res.in; rakeshmee@rediffmail.com (91) 98 208 39821
Shawn McClure, Colorado State Univ. – Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, 1375 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1375, USA
Rashmi S. Patil, Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076, INDIA rspatil@iitb.ac.in (91) 22 2576 7858, (91) 98 209 10299
Ana Prados, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 5523 Research Park Drive, Baltimore MD 21228 aprados@umbc.edu
Virendra Sethi, Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076, INDIA vsethi@iitb.ac.in, (91) 98 207 87 567, (91) 22 2576 7851
Uma Shankar, Institute for the Environment, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bank of America Plaza, CB # 6116, 137 E. Franklin St., Room 644, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
M.P. Singh, Ansal Institute of Technology, Sector 55, Gurgaon, Haryana, 122003 INDIA director@aitgurgaon.org, (91) 99715 11455, (91) 124 411 6493
Chandra Venkataraman, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076, INDIA chandra@iitb.ac.in, (91) 22 2576 7224
A.K. Yadav, Ansal Institute of Technology, Sector 55, Gurgaon, Haryana, 122003 INDIA akyadav@aitgurgaon.org, (91) 98715 92061, (91) 124 4750 502
Description of decision or problem needing improvement
It is now well accepted among the air quality management community in India that there is a need for science based tools to support decision making during the formulation of action plans leading to improved air quality. This has been motivated more so because recent decisions based on short term or limited data spectrum have not proved adequate for providing sustained solutions for air quality management. Many cities in the country have shown high levels of pollutants and do not meet the norms (UNEP, 2001). Further, sixteen most polluted cities were noted by the Indian Supreme Court and were directed to make air quality management action plans. Subsequently, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) listed 53 cities as polluted urban areas for which action plan was needed.
In a recent initiative of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, a Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) has been developed (CPCB, 2009) and used for 88 industrial clusters spread across India. This index accounts for the levels of air pollution in these clusters. The choice of these industrial clusters is also partially based on their proximity to urban region, with risk of exposure in such high population areas. In another effort, the results from recently completed 6-city air pollution source apportionment studies (CPCB, 2010), underscores a national need for a system to continuously monitor, assess and develop action plans for improving the air quality in Indian cities.
Most of these efforts are need based, and often sporadic in nature. The accessibility for decision makers to have a holistic understanding of the air quality issues in a region is limited by factors such as lack of availability of air quality data, scattered data sources, and absence of time series data. For example, the estimation of the CEPI is a dynamic, as well as ongoing process and needs continuous flow of additional data and information for assessment and analyses for appropriate and prudent decision making.
Further, there is no robust structure or a platform for the air quality community to participate and share research, education and practices. For example, a level of capacity was built in India through the 6-city source apportionment study (funded by CPCB). However, in the absence of such a community, the activity ended abruptly from want of a vision and commitment for sustained efforts towards long term air quality management.
The proposed project is expected to be a leap-frogging activity for the Indian air quality management practices. This project shall lead to:
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Creation of an interoperable, distributed data network where multiple earth observations (such as ground, satellite and model based) related to air quality are available for easy access, visualization and analysis over dimensions of spatial, temporal and nature of pollutants.
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Use and understanding of tools and services within the GEOSS infrastructure that provide immense benefit to air quality managers and researchers in the country.
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Developing some of the viable activities under this system such as, emission source identification, exceptional event analyses, forecasting, assessment of air quality scenarios and identification of air pollution hot spots in the country.
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Development of decision support system with problem solving environment for multi-model simulations, scenario based query systems and metadata creation.
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Integrating the AQ-COP of India with others for further strengthening of knowledge in India and elsewhere.
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Providing a window to learn and take action as also see the effect of the action and improve the methodologies for future decisions.
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Further, this would be accomplished through evolution of a community of practice for air quality in India.
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