How is air quality measured?

Published

2 years ago

June 29, 2023

admin

Canadian wildfires causing air quality issues across the U.S

As Canada is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons, parts of the U.S continue to be impacted. Detroit air quality ranked one of the worst in the world as of Wednesday. LiveNOW from FOX host Zach Horner spoke to FOX 2 Detroit’s Robin Murdoch on the air quality and how citizens can protect themselves. More LiveNOW from FOX streaming video.

Air quality has become a hot topic in recent years. After parts of the U.S. dealt with some of the worst air quality in recorded history in June, you might be wondering how it’s actually measured.

Here are seven facts you should know about measuring air quality. 1. Air quality is measured with the air quality index

The air quality index, better known as AQI, as we know it today was released in 1999, according to AirNow.gov. It has gone through several updates over the years, but the goal has always been the same – to offer people an easy-to-understand daily report about the air they’re breathing.

The AQI ranges from 0 to 500 and has six color-coded categories to correspond to a different level of health concern, according to AirNow.gov. Basically, lower numbers equate to better air quality and higher numbers equate to poorer air quality.

THE AIR QUALITY INDEX EXPLAINED: WHAT AIR QUALITY IS BAD?

The air quality index ranges from 0 to 500 and has six color-coded categories to correspond to a different level of health concern. (FOX Weather) 2. There are six common air pollutants

Air quality managers monitor six common air pollutants: particle pollution, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and lead, with the first two comprising the bulk of pollutants.

The reporting period is different for each air pollutant in the AQI, according to AirNow.gov. For example, the AQI for ozone is valid for eight hours, while the AQI for particle pollution is valid for 24 hours.

HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER 3. Lead is not included in daily air quality reports

Although lead is monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency, it’s not included in the daily AQI reports. According to an EPA spokesperson, that’s because the effects of lead pollution are cumulative.

"The AQI focuses on health effects that may be experienced within a few hours or days," the spokesperson said in a written statement. "Health effects from airborne lead more usually accumulate over longer time periods, so daily reports about air quality and potential health effects from lead exposure are not possible."

THESE 6 AIR POLLUTANTS CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR YOUR HEALTH 4. When air quality is poor, an air quality action day might go into effect

An air quality action day, sometimes called an air quality alert day, is put into effect when the AQI reaches unhealthy ranges.

A view of the smoky air in downtown Chicago seen from Highway 90 as the air quality is at unhealthy levels due to smoke from Canadian wildfires in Chicago, United States on June 27, 2023. (Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

There are numerous air pollution control agencies across America, each having slightly different terminology for such days and using varying AQI levels when considering them.

WHAT IS AN AIR QUALITY ACTION DAY?

According to AirNow.gov, air quality action days are most commonly put into effect when the AQI is expected to be unhealthy, or Code Red (AQI value of 151 to 200). In this case, everyone should reduce exposure to air pollution, especially the members of the sensitive groups for that day’s particular pollutant.

AirNow.gov provides several suggestions at this link on what you can do to help keep the air cleaner every day. 5. Instruments on the ground and in space collect air quality data

Measurements of air pollutant concentrations are taken at more than 4,000 monitoring stations owned and operated mainly by state environmental agencies, according to the EPA. These agencies send their hourly or daily pollutant concentration measurements to the EPA's Air Quality System database.

In addition, satellites orbiting the Earth collect information about air quality. For example, according to NOAA, satellites in NOAA’s GOES-R Series monitor the particle pollution in the atmosphere.

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) also collects information about particles in our air. These include smoke particles from wildfires, airborne dust during dust and sand storms, urban and industrial pollution and ash from erupting volcanoes, NOAA said. The JPSS series of satellites can also measure ground-level ozone.

WHAT TO DO WHEN WILDFIRE SMOKE SMOTHERS YOUR AREA AND HOW TO KEEP YOUR HOME'S AIR CLEAN 6. Air quality is affected by the seasons

When temperatures soar in the summer, the air quality in large cities usually takes a turn for the worse – especially ozone levels.

Ozone is good in the higher levels of the atmosphere, where the chemical protects us from harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun.

But near the Earth’s surface, ozone is the main component of smog and can trigger a number of health issues, including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation and congestion, according to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. Smog can even worsen bronchitis, emphysema and asthma and reduce lung function.

Ozone is at its worst on those hot summer days, when the hot sun "cooks" everyday emissions from motor vehicles, industry, paints, solvents and gasoline fumes, according to the PSCAA.

In the summer and especially during extreme heat waves, ozone often reaches dangerous levels in cities or nearby rural areas, according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Chicago air quality: worst in the world due to smoke from Canadian wildfires | LiveNOW from FOX

Chicago has the worst air quality of any city in the world today, according to the World Air Quality Index. Smoke from Canadian wildfires was pushed into the area, dropping air quality to unhealthy levels. More LiveNOW from FOX streaming video

But in some colder climates, winter doesn't escape polluted air either – though, in this case, it's not ozone but tiny particulates that degrade the air quality, such as from wood smoke out of a fireplace. Idling cars to defrost or keep them warm also increases the amount of air pollution, UCAR noted.

"We can get very strong inversions in mountainous regions, for instance, and an inversion is very good at trapping pollutants down to the surface," said Joost de Gouw, a chemistry professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and a fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. "So in a lot of areas – for instance, in Salt Lake City – the air quality is the worst in the winter because the airspace is trapped."

An inversion is when temperatures rise with height, with warm air sitting overtop of colder air below. Since cold air is denser than warm air, it is trapped near the Earth’s surface.

Some areas will issue air quality burn bans when fireplace smoke could become an issue during strong wintertime inversions.

US Air Quality Map 7. Sources of air pollution have changed over the years

Most people think air pollution comes from car exhaust or industrial production, and this is a correct assumption. Wood smoke from either wildfires or home fireplaces can also contribute to degraded air quality due to an increase in tiny particles in the air.

But the sources of air pollution have changed over the years, scientists say, because of some tighter regulations.

WHERE DO OUR TOP AIR POLLUTANTS COME FROM?

"I would say 20 years ago, the top three (air quality polluters) were transportation/motor vehicles, power generation and industry," de Gouw said.

But the Clean Air Act, passed in 1970 and amended in 1977 and 1990, has reduced pollution from those sources.

"And so now, other sources that haven't been addressed so much are coming to the top of the list," said de Gouw.

Many of those are chemical products we use every day.

"For instance, all the shampoos and deodorants that we use in our daily lives; all the bottles we have in our homes that come from the automotive shop, the grocery store and the garden store, basically," he said.

Even agriculture can contribute to air quality issues.

"There's a lot of ammonia that comes from animal feedlots," said de Gouw. "We smell those here on a regular basis in Colorado. And so, yeah, so the number of sources has really diversified because we've been so successful in skimming off the top ones, you might say."

Get updates to this story on FOXWeather.com.

Politics

Water ombudsman will be created – as major report into ‘broken’ industry to be unveiled

Published

2 hours ago

July 21, 2025

admin

New water ombudsman to give public stronger protections, government pledges

Consumers will get stronger protections with a new water watchdog – as trust in water companies takes a record dive.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed will announce today that the government will set up the new water ombudsman with legal powers to resolve disputes, rather than the current voluntary system.

The watchdog will mean an expansion of the Consumer Council for Water’s (CCW) role and will bring the water sector into line with other utilities that have legally binding consumer watchdogs.

Consumers will then have a single point of contact for complaints.

Politics latest: Labour should let water companies ‘go bust’, Farage says

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the new watchdog would help “re-establish partnership” between water companies and consumers.

A survey by the CCW in May found trust in water companies had reached a new low, with fewer than two-thirds of people saying they provided value for money.

Just 35% said they thought charges from water companies were fair – even before the impact could be felt from a 26% increase in bills in April.

Mr Reed is planning a “root and branch reform” of the water industry – which he branded “absolutely broken” – that he will reveal alongside a major review of the sector today.

The review is expected to recommend the scrapping of water regulator Ofwat and the creation of a new one, to incorporate the work of the CCW.

Campaigners and MPs have accused Ofwat of failing to hold water operators to account, while the companies complain a focus on keeping bills down has prevented appropriate infrastructure investment.

On Sunday, Mr Reed avoided answering whether he would get rid of Ofwat or not when asked on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.

He pledged to halve sewage pollution by water companies by 2030 and said Labour would eliminate unauthorised sewage spillages in a decade.

Mr Reed announced £104bn of private investment to help the government do that.

Victoria Atkins MP, shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural Affairs, said: “While stronger consumer protections are welcome in principle, they are only one part of the serious long-term reforms the water sector needs.

“We all want the water system to improve, and honesty about the scale of the challenge is essential. Steve Reed must explain that bill payers are paying for the £104 billion investment plan. Ministers must also explain how replacing one quango with another is going to clean up our rivers and lakes.

“Public confidence in the water system will only be rebuilt through transparency, resilience, and delivery.”

UK

Inquiry launched to ‘uncover truth’ behind bloody clashes at Orgreave miners’ strike

Published

2 hours ago

July 21, 2025

admin

Inquiry launched to 'uncover truth' behind bloody clashes at Orgreave miners' strike

A new public inquiry will “uncover the truth” behind the so-called “Battle of Orgreave”, a bloody fight between striking miners and police officers in the 1980s.

One hundred and twenty people were injured in the violent confrontation on 18 June 1984, outside a coal processing factory in Orgreave, South Yorkshire.

Five thousand miners clashed with an equal number of armed and mounted police during a day of fighting.

Police used horse charges, riot shields and batons against the picketers, even as some were retreating.

In the aftermath, miners were blamed for the violence in what campaigners believe was an institutional “frame-up”.

“There were so many lies,” says Chris Peace, from campaign group Orgreave Truth and Justice, “and it’s a real historic moment to get to this stage.”

“There’s a lot of information already in the public domain,” she adds, “but there’s still some papers that are embargoed, which will hopefully now be brought to light.”

Although dozens of miners were arrested, trials against them all collapsed due to allegations of unreliable police evidence.

Campaigners say some involved have been left with “physical and psychological damage”, but until now, previous governments have refused calls for a public inquiry.

Launching the inquiry today, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky Newsi that she wanted to “make sure” campaigners now got “proper answers”.

“We’ve obviously had unanswered questions about what happened at Orgreave for over 40 years,” Ms Cooper says, “and when we were elected to government, we determined to take this forward.”

The inquiry will be a statutory one, meaning that witnesses will be compelled to come and give evidence, and chaired by the Bishop of Sheffield, Pete Wilcox.

“I’m really happy,” says Carl Parkinson, a former miner who was at Orgreave on the day of the clash, “but why has it took so long?”

“A lot of those colleagues and close friends have passed away, and they’ll never get to see any outcome.”

Mr Parkinson and Chris Skidmore, who was also there that day, were among the group of campaigners informed first-hand by Ms Cooper about the public inquiry at the Orgreave site.

“It wasn’t frightening to start off with,” Mr Skidmore remembers of the day itself, “but then what I noticed was the amount of police officers who had no identification numbers on. It all felt planned.”

“And it wasn’t just one truncheon,” says Mr Parkinson, “there were about 30, or 40. And it was simultaneous, like it was orchestrated – just boom, boom, boom, boom.

“And there’s lads with a split down their heads for no good reason, they’d done nothing wrong. We were just there to peacefully picket.”

In the intervening years, South Yorkshire Police have paid more than £400,000 in compensation to affected miners and their families.

But no official inquiry has ever looked at the documents surrounding the day’s events, the lead-up to it and the aftermath.

“We need to have trust and confidence restored in the police,” says South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard, “and part of that is about people, like this campaign, getting the justice that they deserve.

“Obviously, we’ve had things like Hillsborough, CSE [Child Sexual Exploitation] in Rotherham, and we want to turn the page.”

Environment

Manitou and Hangcha commit to heavy equipment battery production JV

Published

4 hours ago

July 21, 2025

admin

Manitou and Hangcha commit to heavy equipment battery production JV

Manitou and Hangcha form lithium-ion battery joint venture

French equipment manufacturer Manitou has committed to a joint venture with Chinese forklift manufacturer Hangcha that will see the two companies develop and manufacture advanced lithium-ion batteries to support the electrification of the heavy material handler space.

Manitou is well-known in the West, so they need no introduction. Hangcha, though, is arguably just as capable of a company, having opened its first forklift plant in 1956, manufacturing others’ designs under license. They developed their own, in-house material handler in 1974, and have racked up hits ever since. Hangcha is currently the world’s eighth-largest manufacturer of industrial vehicles globally (sounds wrong, but here’s the source).

The plan for the JV is to upgrade the two companies’ deployed fleets of existing lead-acid battery-powered vehicle with longer lasting lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries to expand their operational lifespan. From there, the focus could switch to diesel retrofits and, eventually, the joint development of entirely new products.

“Deepening strategic cooperation with Manitou Group and jointly establishing a lithium battery joint marks a new phase in the partnership between the two sides, which is a milestone in Hangcha global industrial layout,” explains Zhao Limin, Chairman and General Manager of Hangcha Group. “Leveraging Hangcha’s core technological and manufacturing strengths in lithium battery solutions, we will collaboratively enhance solution capability of new energy industrial vehicle power systems. This partnership perfectly aligns with our shared objectives to accelerate electrification transformation and drive sustainable development, while providing robust support to the broader industrial vehicle market.”

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Manitou MHT 12330

MHT 12330 with 72,750 lb. lift capacity; via Manitou.

Once production begins, the joint venture factory will play a key role in supporting Manitou Group’s “LIFT” strategic roadmap. LIFT aims to expand Manitou’s electric vehicle lineup of telehandlers and forklifts, and have EVs account for 28% of total unit forklift sales by 2030. Hangcha Group, meanwhile, has publicly stated its intention to become 100% electric by the end of 2025.

This joint venture plans to recruit employees including engineers, operators, sales representatives and after-sales service technicians. Le Mans Metropole will support the recruitment and local integration and training of future employees.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Manitou; images by Manitou, via Belkorp AG.

If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.