IS428 AY2018-19T1 Ji Xinyi

Problem & Motivation

Air pollution is an important risk factor for health in Europe and worldwide. A recent review of the global burden of disease showed that it is one of the top ten risk factors for health globally. Worldwide an estimated 7 million people died prematurely because of pollution; in the European Union (EU) 400,000 people suffer a premature death. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) predicts that in 2050 outdoor air pollution will be the top cause of environmentally related deaths worldwide. In addition, air pollution has also been classified as the leading environmental cause of cancer.

Air quality in Bulgaria is a big concern: measurements show that citizens all over the country breathe in air that is considered harmful to health. For example, concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 are much higher than what the EU and the World Health Organization (WHO) have set to protect health.

Bulgaria had the highest PM2.5 concentrations of all EU-28 member states in urban areas over a three-year average. For PM10, Bulgaria is also leading on the top polluted countries with 77 μg/m3on the daily mean concentration (EU limit value is 50 μg/m3).

According to the WHO, 60 percent of the urban population in Bulgaria is exposed to dangerous (unhealthy) levels of particulate matter (PM10).

Dataset Analysis & Transformation Process

This section will elaborate on the exploratory data analysis and transformation process for each dataset to prepare the data for analysis. There are 4 different Zip Files that were provided to us in the assignment. The files provided to us are Air Tube, EEA Data, METEO-data and TOPO-DATA.

Interactive Visualization

Task 1: Spatio-temporal Analysis of Official Air Quality

Characterize the past and most recent situation with respect to air quality measures in Sofia City. What does a typical day look like for Sofia city? Do you see any trends of possible interest in this investigation? What anomalies do you find in the official air quality dataset? How do these affect your analysis of potential problems to the environment?

Task 2: Spatio-temporal Analysis of Citizen Science Air Quality Measurements

Using appropriate data visualisation, you are required will be asked to answer the following types of questions:

Characterize the sensors’ coverage, performance and operation. Are they well distributed over the entire city? Are they all working properly at all times? Can you detect any unexpected behaviors of the sensors through analyzing the readings they capture? Limit your response to no more than 4 images and 600 words. Now turn your attention to the air pollution measurements themselves. Which part of the city shows relatively higher readings than others? Are these differences time dependent?

Task 3

Urban air pollution is a complex issue. There are many factors affecting the air quality of a city. Some of the possible causes are:

- Local energy sources. For example, according to Unmask My City, a global initiative by doctors, nurses, public health practitioners, and allied health professionals dedicated to improving air quality and reducing emissions in our cities, Bulgaria’s main sources of PM10, and fine particle pollution PM2.5 (particles 2.5 microns or smaller) are household burning of fossil fuels or biomass, and transport.

• Local meteorology such as temperature, pressure, rainfall, humidity, wind etc.
  
• Local topography
  
• Complex interactions between local topography and meteorological characteristics.
  
• Transboundary pollution for example the haze that intruded into Singapore from our neighbours.