Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Powell Center is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU Partner for research on “Improving airborne disaster response coordination and communication with real-time environmental data.” The project will leverage distributed, low-cost air quality sensor networks and publicly available data to 1) characterize the spatial extent and magnitude of air quality impacts from natural disasters, 2) develop novel analytical approaches to blend low-cost network observations with data from traditional monitoring platforms (e.g., regulatory networks, satellites), and 3) create a framework for using low-cost sensor data for health, planning, and engineering applications. Outcomes of this research will have implications for disaster preparedness, public health, and environmental justice for a broad range of urban and rural communities in the immediate vicinity of natural disasters and locations far downwind.