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EPA’s Wildfire SMoke Air monitoring Response Technology (WSMART) Pilot
Citation:
Holder, A., L. Phelps, AND G. Hagler. EPA’s Wildfire SMoke Air monitoring Response Technology (WSMART) Pilot. Air Resource Advisors Call, Virtual meeting, NC, August 31, 2021.
Impact/Purpose:
This is a short presentation to approximately fifty Air Resource Advisors (ARAs), who all serve as technical specialists to assess smoke conditions as wildfires through the Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program (IWFAQRP). This presentation explains EPA's new effort to loan research air monitoring technologies for wildfire response, called the Wildfire SMoke Air monitoring Response Technology (WSMART) Pilot. Through WSMART, ARAs will be able to request three different types of air monitoring technologies to supplement their current smoke assessment tools (PM2.5 smoke monitors, remote sensing data, and models).
Description:
The Wildfire SMoke Air monitoring Response Technology (WSMART) Pilot is an effort initiated in summer 2021 to make available three types of research air monitors to air monitoring professionals, including Air Resource Advisors (ARAs) and state, local, and tribal air agencies. This presentation focuses on summarizing one of the three types of air monitors - the Vehicle Add-On Mobile Monitoring System (VAMMS). The VAMMS system can quickly modify any vehicle to map fine particulate matter (PM2.5) at a fine-scale resolution while driving. The presentation explains the VAMMS design, how the data can be explored using the RETIGO data visualization tool, and the request process for ARAs for the 2021 fire season.