Air Quality Information Systems and geoss: Applications to India

Project Framework

The key project activities in community building, information infrastructure development, and air quality characterization analyses are brought together in a collaboration framework based on the connections and dependencies among those activities. Enhanced decision support is achieved by integrating multiple sources of data from observations, models, and emissions to arrive at new insight useful for developing air quality action plans for Indian cities and industrial areas. The needs for new information and the data used to generate the insight are provided through the IAQ-CoP. Access to the data and analysis tools are made available through the air quality community infrastructure. Combined within a integration framework all three activities can be leveraged in a way that promotes reuse and scalability to other air quality applications. Results of the characterization analyses are connected with the AQ Community Infrastructure, thereby simplifying their use by other organizations in other types of analyses. The analyses and decision making processes are used by the IAQ-CoP to determine their effectiveness and to refine community needs that drive the next round of decision support analyses. The decision making requirements outlined by the IAQ-CoP will help define performance metrics for the project.



Figure 5. Framework leveraging community and infrastructure for air quality decision knowledge

Deliverables from project

The framework developed during the proposed effort will foster the exchange, processing, analysis and use of earth observations for air quality research and management. In the process of working within this framework, three types of output are anticipated in the first 3 years, including those that:

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  build and connect the air quality community across India and internationally
  
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  define processes and best practices for working with shared, distributed datasets and analysis tools
  
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  create novel air quality analytical information and knowledge that provides new insight into the characterization of air quality in India
  

Air Quality Communities

India AQ Community of Practice

A key result of the proposed effort is the establishment of a functioning Air quality community of practice in India that collaboratively

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  builds and maintains an AQ community Infrastructure
  
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  defines needed data, information and decision support tools for the community and work to make them available and usable in the GEOSS framework and
  
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  defines and implements best practices for contributing to and benefiting from common pools of data resources
  

Workshops/Training

The planning and training workshops developed during the project will build upon previous workshops and training materials. The enhanced and tailored workshops and training material will be available for other organizations to use in their own communities and further enhance.

Reports and publications

Insight gained and lessons learned during the proposed effort will be documented and shared with the community through conference proceedings, reports, and per-reviewed publications.

Air Quality Information Infrastructure Processes

Process for using GEOSS in support of AQ characterization analyses

The proposed effort will define a reusable approach within the GEOSS framework to integrate data of multiple types (satellite observations, surface measurements, emissions model output), of multiple spatial and temporal scales, and from multiple sources in order to characterize Indian air quality. The processes will be able to use different tools to arrive at analyses relevant for action planning. An important result of the processes will be the ability to feedback into GEOSS architecture by providing new data and information products through web services to the common and shared resources of GEOSS.

Reusable and reproducible demonstrations

Throughout the course of the project, there will be demonstrations conveying progress, engaging others in the community and for defining how to participate within the framework. Each demonstration will build on the previous and can be reconfigured and reused, thereby demonstrating some of the benefits of a modular, service approach. The demonstrations will be designed so that a new user could follow a sequence of steps and recreate what they see in the demonstration.

Air Quality Science and Decision-ready Knowledge

Algorithms and tools for integrated, multi-data source analyses

The algorithms and tools developed will be available for use by the broader community. The goal will be for these to be available through web service interfaces and registered within GEOSS.

India urban/industrial air quality characterization analyses

The output of the analytical portion of the effort will include new datasets and information products that are useful for action planning and offer new insights into the characteristics of air pollution in urban and industrial regions of India.

Approach to transitioning to operational system of systems

A fourth type of output, the focus for year 4, is a set of recommendations and steps that define an approach to transition the developed framework to a sustainable and operation system of systems integrated with decision processes.

The different types of deliverables will help serve different beneficiaries of the proposed effort. For example, air quality researchers will likely make the most use of the algorithms and tools for integrated data analysis while air quality managers will likely find the most use on the information generated from the air quality characterization analyses.

Anticipated results, benefits, and beneficiaries

The deliverables from the proposed project are expected to be multi-beneficial for the end users depending on their operation. The air quality decision support system would provide the government a systemic structure for well informed and scientifically supported decisions for national and international policies.

The beneficiaries of this project include Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), academia and research community, industry/development sector, the broader GEOSS air quality community and other GEOSS communities.

At the level of regulatory agencies, the tools and services that would be made available through this project are anticipated to be beneficial for improving/optimizing existing monitoring networks, source identification, exceptional event analyses, retrospective air quality data analyses and forecasting. This would also provide opportunities for monitoring the progress of abatement plans and making decisions on modifications if needed.

The academia and research community will benefit through the improved data availability and accessibility. The ability of the system to provide a holistic view of multiform data would promote research in areas such as air quality and human health. Validation of models and satellite retrievals are examples of other activities that would be of interest for research community.

The proposed effort is also expected to benefit judiciary organizations which have previously used surface air pollution measurements in their decision making processes. An enhanced decision support system would be useful for judiciary in their status assessments and requests for action. Apart from the improved air quality due to improved decision making, the other benefits to the public may be the opportunity for up-to-date information on state of air quality and early warnings.

The Industry/ development sector will be benefited through the support for environmental impact assessment and assessment of control strategies. The proposed project will create a partnership between the regulatory agencies and industry/development sector through providing opportunity to share the information about the state of environment.

GEOSS is also considered a beneficiary in that the proposed project provides an exemplar for GEOSS and the GEOSS Common Infrastructure. GEOSS also gains new and innovative information services and analytical tools focused on India that will be made available across the wider communities. While the project is focused on applications in India, the benefits would be at a global scale. The framework, conventions and processes developed during this project will be applicable in other regions of the world, and the expertise gained in India will be educative in the effort needed to develop similar capabilities elsewhere.