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AEROMETRIC INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM (AIRS) -GEOGRAPHIC, COMMON, AND MAINTENANCE SUBSYSTEM (GCS)
Citation:
AEROMETRIC INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM (AIRS) -GEOGRAPHIC, COMMON, AND MAINTENANCE SUBSYSTEM (GCS). (1987).
Description:
Aerometric Information Retrieval System (AIRS) is a computer-based repository of information about airborne pollution in the United States and various World Health Organization (WHO) member countries. AIRS is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and runs on the IBM mainframe computer system at the EPA National Computer Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. AIRS contains all air quality, emissions, compliance, and enforcement information that the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) and state agencies need to carry out their respective programs for improving and maintaining air quality. Reporting capabilities allow states to access and use their data. It eliminates the need for individual states to maintain their own databases of air pollution information and to reformat or reorganize data for submission to the EPAs database. AIRS provides standard information requirements and information handling procedures, which enables OAQPS to compare and to use data from different states. AIRS Subsystems and applications includes the Geographic, Common, and Maintenance Subsystem (GCS). The GCS is a repository of reference data shared the AQS, AFS, and AMS subsystems. The data includes codes and code descriptions used to identify places, pollutants, and processes, geographic information, and values such as air quality standards and emission factors.