Wednesday July 24, 2024 @ 11:00 – noon Central (Teams Link)

Victor Geiser, LADCO Summer-2024 Intern

Abstract: In this study, we used Self Organizing Maps (SOMs) for analyzing the meteorological conditions during June days from 2019 through 2023 and associated PM2.5 concentrations in the Midwest. Through an understanding of synoptic scale meteorological patterns and an introspective look at the vertical structure of the atmosphere, we gauge common and less common weather patterns for various levels of PM2.5 concentrations including those influenced significantly by wildfire smoke transported into the LADCO region.

The figure below shows the daily fine particle pollution (PM2.5) concentrations average across all monitors in the Great Lakes region for the year 2019-2023. Each colored line represents the daily average for each year. The particle concentrations in 2023 are shown by the blue line, with several high pollution events between June and September. The late June 2023 event was historic and led some media outlets to declare that cities in the region had the “worst air pollution in the world” during that period.

LADCO supports air quality planners in the region

LADCO works with our member states to track and understand the impacts of fire smoke on air quality in the region. Wildfire smoke poses a challenge for state and local air quality planning agencies in the Great Lakes region because it falls outside of their regulatory jurisdictions. There is nothing a state planning agency can do about controlling pollution from fire smoke, particularly if the fires are located far away, like Canada or the western U.S.

LADCO uses data science and computer modeling to quantify the amount of pollution entering the region from wildfires, and to identify the days during which smoke-influenced pollution is the worst. We work with our member states and U.S. EPA to account for pollution periods caused by transported wildfire smoke.

LADCO in the news discussing fire smoke and air quality

LADCO’s Executive Director has been in the news quite a bit since summer 2023 talking about wildfire smoke and air quality in Chicago.

The health of effects of Chicago’s Air Pollution (NPR, July 11, 2023)

Smoke from large wildfires can spread wide and far.  In 2018 we observed smoke on several days in the LADCO region that originated from fires in the western U.S. and Canada. Wildfire smoke is a concern because it contains harmful air pollutants, including particles, air toxics, and ozone precursors [1,2]. The health impacts from fire smoke exposure include increased rates of respiratory diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The image above shows wildfire smoke viewed from space on August 4, 2018. Darker shades of grey indicate thicker layers of smoke.  The circles overlaid on this plot are daily maximum ozone concentrations at monitoring sites. Orange and red colors represent locations with unhealthy air quality concentrations. This image of smoke impacts is fairly typical of the summer of 2018, in which large fire complexes in the Western U.S. produced smoke that blanketed the atmosphere over the majority of the country.

Smoke that is transported into the LADCO region degrades our air quality. Ozone, fine particulate matter, and regional haze may all be influenced by smoke that originates from thousands of miles away. LADCO is working with our member states to understand the trends in smoke impacts on our region and what the implication of these impacts are on public health and regulatory compliance.  We are integrating surface monitoring, remote sensing, and modeling into a data platform to identify in near real-time the extent to which fire smoke is exacerbating air pollution in our region.