Last week, Michael S. Regan, Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, announced that the EPA will reconsider strengthening the limits and standards for fine particulate matter.

Earth Day is this Thursday, April 22 and to help reporters develop stories about air quality monitoring, modeling and evaluation, the Air Quality Research Center is here with a few researchers and educators to support the sharing of knowledge. 

Research Engineer, Air Quality Research Center (AQRC)

Research Interests:

Over 111 million metric tons of CO2 were emitted by wildfires in California for the 2020 year. The transportation sector is the only area to have emitted more carbon dioxide at over 169 million metric tons. While from the outset, that looks pretty bad, you may still wonder, "In actuality, how bad is the wildfire smoke for Climate Change?"

In an interview with the SF Chronical, AQRC Director, Tony Wexler, stated that the wildfire carbon emissions are of almost no concern for him in relation to climate change.

NOAA/NASA's Suomi NPP Satellite captured the above image of both aerosols traveling the US and hurricanes heading towards the US. Read their full write up of the image posted on September 15, 2020 below.

NOAA/NASA 

Low-cost air quality sensors are becoming more accurate and affordable to the general public month by month. There is a grand amount of research occurring in the field so air quality sensors. Government, private industry, non-profits and community scientists are all concerned about the air pollution around the world.

In the age of information, it’s often difficult to filter facts from noise. In this episode of Elanco’s Rediscovering the Power of Healthy Animals podcast with Michelle Calvo-Lorenzo and Sarah Place, CLEAR Center Director, Frank Mitloehner, debunks common misconceptions around livestock and greenhouse gas emissions.

UC Davis professor Dr. Christopher Cappa with several inter-campus colleagues has developed a new virtual series on the Frontiers in Atmospheric Chemistry. They have recruited a mix of junior and senior faculty members from across North America to  present on research results pertaining to atmospheric chemistry. The sessions will take place every Friday through the Fall semester over Zoom at 10am PT starting on September 11th.

What is Air Pollution? What is the evidence linking air pollution to adverse effects on the brain? How does air pollution alter brain development and brain function? These are just a few of the questions answered in the publication "Air Pollution and Brain Health" by Professor of Neurotoxicology Dr. Pamela Lein and Distinguished Professor Dr. Anthony Wexler of UC Davis.

With the coronavirus spreading and stay-at-home orders becoming more prevalent we are seeing a drop in emissions resulting in better air quality. People around the US and the World are reporting being able to see further across cities and to hills or mountains. 

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic earlier this month causing industries across the world to shutdown and workers to stay home to avoid further contamination and spreading of the virus. This emergency shutdown has lead to lower air pollution levels around the world. 

Experts are saying that this societal shutdown is creating one of the largest experiments in industrial emission reduction. NO2 levels over cities and industrial areas have decreased significantly in comparison to this same time in 2019. 

Air Quality Research Center Aerosol Scientist, Nicholas Spada, shares how the Center has used the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory over the years and what benefits it has been providing to society. Take a listen below. 

More than 60% of transportation emissions come from passenger vehicles in the U.S. This makes personal transportation the largest source of greenhouse gases.  "Boston University’s emissions database, first published in 2015 and updated this month with an additional five years of data, reveals that much of the increase in driving-related CO2 has occurred in and around cities."

Take a look at your cities emissions and how they have changed over the years. 

Air Quality Research Center Director, Tony Wexler, spoke with Mark Kaufman of Mashable about the smoke and poor air quality in Sydney from the Australia fires. Sydney's pollution levels were more than 11 times the hazardous level. 

In his article, Sydney, engulfed in smoke, has a ghastly air quality problem, Kaufman shares:

Californians are on high-alert due to fast moving winds and wildfires. The recent wind has caused several Californian fires to spread quickly leading to evacuations. PG&E has been cutting power in various locations to prevent possible fires due to these high winds. With various subsidies and insurance coverages, home builders do not worry about possible climate change issues related to where they are building.