Low-cost sensors for air quality monitoring

About the event

The Atmospheric Watch Initiative (AWI), under our Regional Programme on Atmosphere, is organizing a two-day workshop on the use of low-cost sensors for air quality monitoring. The workshop is jointly organized with Duke University, USA and will bring together scientists and researchers from South Asia to share progress on air sampling, sensor calibration, and data analysis. The workshop will discuss how data can be populated in the ICIMOD Air Quality Dashboard for better visibility of air quality information.

Expected outcome

This workshop aims to build the understandings of participants on air quality monitoring using low-cost sensors, and enhance collaboration to improve air quality monitoring and data sharing through a regional platform.

Background

ICIMOD’s Regional Programme on Atmosphere aims to improve understanding of air pollutant emissions, atmospheric processes and change, and impacts and promote mitigation and policy solutions while building awareness, capacity, and collaboration in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) and upwind regions. The programme aims to promote the adoption of effective measures and policies to reduce air pollution and its impacts within the HKH through improved knowledge and enhanced capacity of our regional partners.

Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. The university has been working on air quality issues mostly related to observation through low-cost sensors in South Asian countries (Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka).

Duke University, in collaboration with the Central Department of Environmental Science at Tribhuvan University (TU-CDES) is implementing a project “Building Capacity to Improve Air Quality in South Asia: Reducing PM2.5 Through Low-Cost Sensor Network Driven Policy Decisions” in Nepal. This project aims to develop and implement plans to reduce PM2.5 to more healthy levels in highly polluted regions in each country through a combination of low-cost satellite image enhanced PM 2.5 sensor networks, integrated with meteorological modelling and source apportionment.

Agenda