The European satellites Sentinel 4 and 5 missions will help us to monitor air quality.
AURORA is particularly interested in Tropspheric Ozone as one on the most important short-lived greenhouse gases (GHG). Tropospheric ozone is highly variable and strong oxidant. This means that it directly affects other GHG that affect the global climate. There are still many uncertainties about this GHG, which require continuous, regional measurements and monitoring.
Such monitoring could have significant impact on air quality measurement in our cities and, consequently, on our health. According to a WHO assessment of the burden of disease due to air pollution, more than 2 million premature deaths each year can be attributed to urban outdoor air pollution and indoor air pollution.
AURORA is making scientific and technological advances in this field.
Given that the project is carried out before the launch of the atmospheric Sentinels, AURORA will simulate, fuse and assimilate synthetic L2 Sentinel data. This will help to provide accurate ozone analyses and forecasts. Watch this space for research results.
One of AURORA’s commercial applications will be an off the shelf, tailor made application to inform users in major cities (citizens and civil servants) about air quality. It will provide awareness of actual air quality at high spatial resolution (neighbourhood to street level) in near real-time and will transform data into practical recommendations. Watch this space for more information as the product develops.
For more information on Air Quality: