CAPITA Capabilities Relevant to the NASA REASoN Project,

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CAPITA Capabilities Relevant to the NASA REASoN
Project, Application of ESE Data and Tools to
Particulate Air Quality Management

• August 15, 2003

Stefan Falke and Rudolf Husar Center for Air
Pollution Impact and Trend Analyis Washington
University in St. Louis
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REASoN Project Objectives

• We will work closely with partner agencies in
  developing an ESE supported Federated Particulate
  Matter Network through research in data access,
  infrastructure building, and tools development
  for data processing and analysis.
• An overview of the CAPITA Reason Proposal
  "Application of ESE Data and Tools to Particulate
  Air Quality Management is given in the
  presentation
• http//capita.wustl.edu/capita/researchareas/NASAR
  eason/NASA_Reason_Overview.ppt
• Specifically, the project will
• Identify ESE datasets and tools suitable for PM
  management.
• Build infrastructure to support distributed data
  access and connectivity with existing networks.
• Conduct data processing to convert some raw ESE
  data to PM relevant data and combine with surface
  PM data.
• Develop web tools to support decision making
  through data access, visualization, and analysis.
• Apply SEEDS principles in working with the PM
  management community to incorporate the developed
  resources in the decision making process.

CAPITAs research background provide the
necessary capabilities to pursue these objectives.
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CAPITAs Research Areas
Air Quality Science Management
Analysis of air quality spatial patterns and
temporal trends, their causal factors and their
impacts. Dissemination of analysis results into
air quality manamgent descion making processes.
Satellite Imagery Processing and Analysis
Derivation of air quality relevant measures from
satellite observations
Information Technology Research in support of Air
Quality Management
Development of IT software and services to
improve the data access, analysis,
interpretation, and communitcation of air quality
issues.
CAPITA integrates air quality science and
research with information technology to produce
knowledge in support of decision making.
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Air Quality Science Management
CAPITA researchers have examined pollutant
concentration data, the relationship been
pollutant emissions and receptors, meteorological
influences, causal factors, longe range transport
issues, and chemical composition.
Analysis of spatial patterns on regional,
contintental, and global scales. Temporal trends
from daily to secular scales.
Analysis includes surface monitoring
observations, model results, satellite
observations.
CAPITA has a long and fruitful relationship with
air quality organizations, such as the US EPA and
has been involved in air quality management
support such as the Ozone Transport Assessment
Group.
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Satellite Imagery Processing Analysis
Aerosol Optical Depth is a measure of the excess
reflectance at a location on a given day. Cloudy
areas are ignored using a cloud mask.
The minium reflectance image serves as a valuable
indicator of surface vegetation patterns.
Derivation of AOT from SeaWiFS
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Data Fusion
Multiple sources of data combined, or fused,
produces a richer, more complete understanding of
a phenomena than what is obtained from any single
source of data.
The fusion of surface and space-borne
observations provide a particularly powerful
potnetial to generate new air quality knowledge.
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Information Technology
Advances in IT have a profound impact on the way
air quality research is conducted and how reseach
results are disseminated and used. CAPITA has
been invovled in developing novel IT software and
services for more than 15 years. Recent
developments
Distributed Voyager (dVoy) is a spatial and
temporal data exploration software application
accessible through a web browser that supports
interoperability based on Web Services
(XML,SVG,OGC) and legacy support by encapsulating
existing data and exposing them as Web Services.
(Access to standard HTTP/FTP servers)
Distributed Folders (dFolders) is an
infrastructure for organizing, presenting, and
navigating distributed content from the web.
dFolders facilitate uniform description,
structuring, and discovery of heterogenous web
content
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dVoy Spatio-Temporal Data Browser
dVoy queries yield slices along the spatial,
temporal and parameter dimensions of
multidimensional data cubes.
OGC-Compliant GIS Services
Homogenizer
Data Sources
Spatial Portrayal
Spatial Overlay
XDim Data
SQL Table OLAP
Client Browser
GIS Data
Data Cube
Vector
Time-Series Services
Spatial Slice
Time Portrayal
Time Overlay
Satellite Images
Time Slice
Cursor/Controller
Render
Find/Bind Data
Portray
Overlay
Maintain Data
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Voyager The Program
Controls
Ports
Data Sources
Displays
Voyager Core Data Selection Data Access Data
Portrayal
Wrappers
Device Drivers
Adoptive Abstract I/O Layer

• The Voyager program consists of a stable core and
  adoptive input/output section
• The core executes the data selection, access
  portrayal tasks
• The adoptive, abstract I/O layer connects the
  core to evolving web data, flexible displays and
  to the a configurable user interface
• Wrappers encapsulate the heterogeneous external
  data sources and homogenize the access
• Device Drivers translate generic, abstract
  graphic objects to specific devices and formats
• Ports expose the internal parameters of Voyager
  to external controls

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User Interface Components
Map View Displays Selected Data
Catalog User selects among distributed wrapped
data
Control Panel Provides user with facilities to
customize display
Time View Displays Selected Data
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dVoy Example Fire, Smoke, Air Quality Network
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dFolders
The base units of the dFolder structure are
pages which link directly to a data source.
Pages are grouped into folders, for example there
may be a folder of an Asian Dust Event. Folders
may be further grouped into events, communities,
or projects. This website structure supports
flexibility in the display of content, as any
folder level can be extracted from the
database, and it promotes consistency through the
website. Example May 2003 Asian Smoke Event
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Story Telling / Knowledge Production
On April 15 and 19 1998, dust storms in the Gobi
Desert produced unusually large dust clouds, some
of which was transported across the Pacific.
When it was evident that the dust cloud was
reaching North America, an interactive website
was set up by CAPITA to share observations, and
ideas. By April 29 the ad-hoc virtual workgroup
consisted of over 40 scientists and air quality
managers from North America and Asia. The
collaborative work produced by the virtual
community generated mulitple publications
including a Special Issue on Dust in the Journal
of Geophysical Research.
The Asian Dust website http//capita.wustl.edu/As
ia-FarEast/
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REASoN Story Telling / Knowledge Production
Data from relevant satellite and real time
aerosol sensors that observe partciulate matter
are collected and displayed through an aerosol
monitoring dashboard accessible by anyone as a
web page. At any given time, a designated set of
human observers are assigned the task of watching
for interesting events, such as the Quebec
fires (below). When such an event occurs, a
notification message is transmitted to air
quality managers and interested subscribers.
Following the notification, the community of
interested observers begins to assemble a
storybook summary of the event and shares the
summary with the air quality management group.
Given such technical guidance, the air quality
manager decides on the appropriate action.


Real time PM data available from satellite and
surface based sensors. Left image shows the MODIS
reflectance and fire location pixels. On the
right, the TOMS satellite and surface visibility
data are superimposed on SeaWiFS reflectance
image.
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Relevant Publications
Fusion of SeaWiFS and TOMS Satellite Data with
Surface Observations and Topographic Data During
Extreme Aerosol Events http//capita.wustl.edu/CAP
ITA/CAPITAReports/0111FalkeFusionJAWMA/FalkeDataFu
sion.pdf Transboundary Movement of Airborne
Pollutants A Methodology for Integrating
Spaceborne Images and Ground based Data
http//grid2.cr.usgs.gov/publications/air_pollutio
n.pdf Aerosol Virtual Community Website
http//capita.wustl.edu/Databases/UserDomains/Saha
raDust2000/ SeaWiFS Aerosol Optical Thickness
http//capita.wustl.edu/capita/capitareports/0305E
PAStaSeminar/SurfAerCoRetrieval.htm 1998 Asian
Dust Event http//capita.wustl.edu/Asia-FarEast/R
eports/JGR/AsianDustEpisodeApril1998_JGR.doc