Using Satellites to Track Indicators of Global Air Pollution and Climate Change Impacts: Lessons Learned From a NASA-Supported Science-Stakeholder Collaborative.

Susan C Anenberg,Xiaomeng Jin,Arlene M Fiore,Iyad Kheirbek,Nick Watts,Patrick L Kinney,Tracey Holloway,Yang Liu,Peter James,Daniel L Goldberg,Matilyn Bindl,Jeremy Hess,Ananya Roy,Arash Mohegh,J Jason West,Richard Fuller,Sandra Cavalieri,Katy Walker,Daniel Tong,Juan J Castillo,Marcia P Jiménez ,Jonathan A Patz ,Michael Bräuer ,D K Henze ,B N Duncan

doi:10.1029/2020gh000270

Abstract

The 2018 NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Science Team (HAQAST) “Indicators” Tiger Team collaboration between NASA‐supported scientists and civil society stakeholders aimed to develop satellite‐derived global air pollution and climate indicators. This Commentary shares our experience and lessons learned. Together, the team developed methods to track wildfires, dust storms, pollen counts, urban green space, nitrogen dioxide concentrations and asthma burdens, tropospheric ozone concentrations, and urban particulate matter mortality. Participatory knowledge production can lead to more actionable information but requires time, flexibility, and continuous engagement. Ground measurements are still needed for ground truthing, and sustained collaboration over time remains a challenge.

Highlights

Several large‐scale and high‐profile efforts have recently highlighted the need for indicators measuring the world's progress toward mitigating health impacts of pollution and climate change
The team included ~20 researchers who were sponsored by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of Health and Air Quality Applied Science Team (HAQAST) and aimed to produce six global air quality or climate change indicators that were of particular interest to the stakeholder organizations on the team: tropospheric ozone concentrations, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations, air pollution‐attributable premature mortality in cities worldwide, direct population exposure to wildfires, pollen season start date and duration, and dust storm frequency
The NASA HAQAST Indicators Tiger Team facilitated the transfer of global‐scale satellite remote sensing and related data to stakeholders for tracking the world's progress toward mitigating air pollution and climate change

Summary

Introduction

Several large‐scale and high‐profile efforts have recently highlighted the need for indicators measuring the world's progress toward mitigating health impacts of pollution and climate change. While the scope and scale of spaceborne Earth observations increasingly matches the needs of global health assessments, developing, analyzing, and interpreting these data sets for environmental and public health surveillance require technical expertise This gap between production and use of scientific information has been well documented in other environmental decision‐making contexts (Kirchhoff et al, 2013; Norström et al, 2020) and is not unique to the application of satellite remote sensing for tracking global air quality and climate change. The “Indicators” Tiger Team in particular initiated a new collaboration between HAQAST members and key civil society stakeholders with the goal of developing satellite‐derived global air pollution and climate indicators It was one of the first projects supported by the NASA Applied Sciences Division to carry out applied research on air pollution and climate change at the global scale.

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Discussion