According to UN's “World Urbanization Prospects: 2018 Revision” the urban population has reached 55% and is projected to increase to 66%. Moreover, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO, 2016) Ambient Air Pollution Global Assessment, only one person in ten lives in a city that complies with the WHO Air Quality (AQ) guidelines. In this context, open access to high quality AQ information to stakeholders in a timely and comprehensible manner to foster informed decision making is imperative. In the frame of the ‘Health Surveillance Air Quality’ Pilot (HSAQ), Earth observations for AQ (e.g. in situ monitoring stations, satellite retrievals, atmospheric numerical models, citizen observatories) are fused with population and health data towards tailored, added value products that support public air quality and health assessments, informed decision making as well as urban planning. In particular:
NOA, DLR, FMI, CNR, IIASA, DRAXIS
Region of Attica (GR), City of Athens (GR), Ministry of Environment and Energy (GR), Health National Public Organization (GR), Ministry of Health (GR), Sustainable City Network (assoc. of 74 municipalities) (GR), Hellenic Statistical Authority (GR), HSY (Environmental Services Authority) (FI), City of Helsinki (FI), City of Porvoo (FI), Ministry of the Environment (FI), NESTE Oy (FI), Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection (DE), Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care (DE), Municipal Authorities of Bari and Modugno (IT), World Bank.
EO and Copernicus Services: NO2 Sentintel-5P, GHSL distribution of population, World Settlement Footprint, CAMS regional and global re-analysis products for AQ, European anthropogenic emission database CAMS-REG, ERA5 meteorological data at ECMWF,
In-situ, citizen observatories: E-PRTR database of stationary emission sources, national regulatory monitoring networks of AQ (Greece, Finland, Germany), National RI PANACEA network of sensors (https://air-quality.gr/)
Numerical modeling datasets/services: POLYPHEMUS model product, GEOS-CHEM global AQ model predictions, EPISODE-CityChem CTM outputs
Our final product is the TEASER platform of HSAQ – a *marketplace of services* showcasing the different EO driven products that enable several users to perform air quality-health assessments, with tailored components for Helsinki, Munich, Athens, Bari and around 40 urban areas of the world (UNESCO list of megacities). It is an online service with global and unique city components utilizing a variety of existing EO capacities in conjunction with health and socioeconomic data for health surveillance purposes. The service addresses global, city and municipality scales and further, bridges past (trends), present (analysis) and potentially future (air quality scenarios), to provide a reference space for users and stakeholders to gain thorough insight into urban air quality.
The platform has the capacity to incorporate on demand more cities, adding different city layers to address city’s own unique health surveillance data and needs, while through the teaser, and for specific components, users are redirected to individual platforms and experience full access to databases and functionalities.
The e-shape project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 820852