Using the Affordable Deployable Air Quality Egg to Monitor Air Quality

Air Methods, Monitoring, and Technology - Session 2
Oral Presentation

Prepared by E. Spencer
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 903 14th Ave. NE, Rochester, MN,, 55906, United States


Contact Information: spenc644@umn.edu; 507-990-8687

ABSTRACT

Air quality is an issue of critical concern for public health and environmental wellbeing. As a freshman at a major university in a metro area, I am concerned about global change issues and am curious about air quality and carbon dioxide variations through time and across a gradient of industrial, urban, and forested landscapes in Minnesota. To investigate, I obtained three Air Quality Eggs (AQE; http://airqualityegg.com), each of which includes a set of atmospheric sensors for variables such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter, in addition to standard meteorological variables such as temperature, pressure, and relative humidity. Observations are collected and transmitted every minute and are accessible in real time via the AQE website. My AQEs were installed in St. Paul (industrial), Rochester (urban), and at the UMN Cloquet Forestry Center (forested), and data has been collected continuously since January 3, 2020. In this presentation, I will review results to date, including variations of the integrated air quality index across the gradient of land cover types, lessons learned, and a reflection on the merits and shortcomings of the AQE for use by citizen scientists.