Stefan Falke Center for Air Pollution Impact and Trend Analysis

Washington University in St. Louis

Networked Data and Tools for Environmental Management

New IT Research to Advance Environmental Research, Policy and Management

dg.o 2003 Panel

NEISGEI

• A conceptual framework for the development of a fully integrated distributed emissions inventory -- Spatial (and temporal) scales

– Air pollutants for assessing human, ecosystem and climate health– To support scientists, regulators, policy analysts and public education

• A tool for strategic planning of air quality environmental management capacity building projects

-- A fully populated network will be a resource for identifying important missing datasets in regional, hemispheric and global scale studies

NNetworkedetworked E Environmental nvironmental IInformation nformation SSystem ystem for for GGlobal lobal EEmissions missions IInventoriesnventories

NEISGEINNetworkedetworked E Environmental nvironmental IInformation nformation SSystem ystem for for GGlobal lobal EEmissions missions IInventoriesnventories

• dg.o 2002 birds-of-a-feather session

• NSF and EPA WorkshopIssues identified:

Finding dataIntegrating dataQuantifying data uncertainty

Project types:Data wrapping and integration of same type dataData wrapping and integration of heterogeneous dataTools to support environmental management

Fire, Smoke and Air Quality Network

The US Environmental Protection Agency and USDA-Forest Service are partnering agencies

The management of fire, smoke, and air quality is tasked to multiple agencies at federal, state, and local levels.

The diversity in data collection methods, data reporting requirements, data formatting schemes, data analysis methods, and data presentation create a daunting challenge for the integration of these data.

However, integration of these heterogeneous datasets is precisely what is called for by federal and regional organizations in order to derive a more comprehensive understanding of fire, smoke, and air quality.

Co-investigator: Rudolf Husar, Washington U.

Fire, Smoke and Air Quality Network

The network will provide:

• uniform access to and cataloging of distributed fire related data and tools

• easy-to-use interfaces for exploring fire related resources

• powerful tools that contribute to fire related data analysis and modeling

• a framework that encourages community-wide contributions

The fire, smoke, and air quality network will consist of web-based data access and analysis facilities that are flexible and adaptive in meeting the diverse end use requirements of wildland and prescribed fire managers and air quality planners.

Fire, Smoke, and Air Quality Network

The map and time views are linked so that changing the focus in one automatically updates the other. For example, clicking on a PM2.5 monitor in the map displays the time series at that monitor.

CIRA ColoState-VIEWS

European Space Agency

Generic Map Server

NASA SeaWiFS Project

Map View

Time View

Control Panel

Integration of multiple sources of fire related data aids in planning, management, and post-fire analysis.

Spatio-Temporal Data Browser

Render

Spatial Slice

Find/Bind Data

Data Cube

Time Slice

Time Portrayal

Spatial Portrayal Spatial Overlay

Time Overlay

OGC-Compliant GIS Services

Time-Series Services

Portray Overlay

Homogenizer Catalog

Wrapper

Mediator Client Browser

Cursor/Controller

Maintain Data

Vector

GIS Data

XDim DataSQL Table

OLAP

Satellite

Images

Data Sources

Queries yield slices along the spatial, temporal and parameter dimensions of multidimensional data cubes.

Integrated N. American Emission Inventory

The Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and the US EPA are supporting a project to develop a prototype web tool for enabling uniform access to distributed emissions data from North American electricity generating power plants.

Co-investigator: Greg Stella, Alpine Geophysics

The prototype tool will help:

• Assess data gaps

• Identify future IT tools that can aid collaborative emissions inventory project

Air pollutant emission inventories for the US, Canada, and Mexico are compiled and stored using different methods

Chemical and Aerosol Trajectory Tool

Where did polluted air come from? Where did clean air come from?

Networked Assessment Evolution

1) Begin with data access and browsing viewing data inputs and results separately

2) Ask questions related to what parts of analysis/modeling can be generalized, automated, distributed

3) Add data processing/manipulation tools to the network

Multi-researcher environmental assessmentsEach researcher with contributes their expertiseRarely is an environmental management project conducted start to finish by a single researcher

EPA Office of Environmental Information

National Environmental Information Exchange Network

Promote access and exchange of quality environmental data while reducing reporting burden and increasing the efficiency of data exchanges between networks.

Build locally and nationally accessible, cohesive and coherent environmental information systems that will ensure that both the public and regulators have access to the information needed to document environmental performance, understand environmental conditions, and make sound decisions that ensure environmental protection.

Grant program to States, Territories, and Tribes for building capabilities for network participation

NASA Earth System Enterprise

Improve the application of NASA Earth Observing System products (satellite imagery) to non-NASA activities

The products consist of a heterogeneous mix of interdependent components derived from the contributions of many individuals and institutions.

Provide network components for harmonizing and aggregating NASA’s various, disparate, numerous data systems and services.

The network is to be simple, flexible and adaptable.

Sensor Networks

Wireless and embedded sensor networks have become an area of intensive research over the past three years. The focus of the research has been in the areas of instrumentation and information/communication technology.

A report by the National Research Council outlines a research agenda for realizing sensor networks and notes that one of the best approaches to understanding and addressing research challenges is to begin experimentation with embedded networks in environmental monitoring applications.

Current focus is on getting sensors and sensor networks to communicate

Future need is how to work with all that data!