A University of Iowa (UI) engineering researcher investigating air quality forecasting during wildfire events has received new backing from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to achieve more accurate forecasts and timely alerts. The project promises new tools to protect public health across the contiguous United States. This builds upon the success of the NASA-supported FireAQ system developed by the same team and aimed to help stakeholders’ decision-making activities relevant to wildfire-caused air pollution.

Wildfires are a growing threat to air quality, releasing fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that can travel hundreds of miles and penetrate deep into the lungs, causing serious respiratory issues. Traditional forecasting methods struggle to accurately predict PM2.5 levels due to limited data on the vertical distribution of smoke particles.

The $500,000 grant led by Xi Chen, principal investigator, and Jun Wang, co-investigator, will address this challenge by leveraging state-of-the-art satellite-based measurements of aerosol optical centroid height (AOCH) — a key indicator of smoke layer altitude. These measurements, derived from NASA’s TEMPO satellite, offer a new way to estimate surface-level pollution more accurately.

The project will support three major innovations:

• Hourly maps of smoke layer height using NASA’s TEMPO satellite.

• Machine learning to forecast surface-level PM2.5 under wildfire conditions.

• Collaboration with air quality agencies to evaluate the tools during major fire events.

The new data products will be visualized in the FireAQ system through interactive maps to support timely air quality advisories and alerts. The grant has been selected by NASA's Earth Action program for its Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (HAQAST). The Iowa team is one of 14 team members that have been selected by NASA. 

The FireAQ system is led by Wang, professor and department executive officer of chemical and biochemical engineering and the Lichtenberger Family Chair in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. It is supported as part of NASA’s Earth Action: Health and Air Quality program. This new HAQAST project will make key extensions and upgrades of FireAQ that are critical to continuing the service and expanding its capabilities. 

Wang directs the  Atmospheric and Environmental Research Lab, a research group of the Iowa Technology Institute. The lab consists of research engineers and professional scientists as well as UI students from chemical and biochemical engineering.

Chen said, “The funded HAQAST project will support graduate students and undergraduate students to learn and develop engineering solutions for air quality monitoring and prediction as well as to attend national conferences to engage and work together with other HAQAST investigators and stakeholders from environmental agencies around the country.”