|
SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT
INSTITUTE Failure in Madrid; European Green Deal Adopted CCC Board of Governors Adopt Climate Change and Sustainability Goals Doomsday Clock Set at 100 Seconds to Midnight SEI Proposes Network of Weather/Air Quality Stations Air Pollution Worsening in Los Angeles Region New Climate Corps Fellow at City College In the Classroom: Resources from Carleton College UC Certificate for Citizen Scientists News Briefs |
 Eddie Villanueva and Robert Wimmer working on air quality sensors.
SEI Proposes Network of Weather/Air Quality Stations
The district’s first combination weather/air quality station is being installed at East LA College. John Grimmer (Environmental Science) and Eddie Villanueva (Engineering) and colleagues began the work last May. Pierce College has had a very sophisticated weather station since 1949 (long used by the National Weather Service), but East’s will be a much more modest operation. What makes it distinctive are the air quality sensors. Once fully operational, the station will record not only changes in temperature, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, et al, but also the formation and persistence of photochemical smog and other forms of air pollution. To do that, it will measure the amount of volatile organic compounds, course and fine particulates, and nitrogen oxide in the air. It will also record noise level and light intensity variations. Grimmer and the SEI Steering Committee have bigger plans, however. Given that weather and air quality can vary dramatically from place to place, especially in a city as far-flung as Los Angeles, a network of stations would provide far more information than a single station, allowing students to chart the differences between West LA and Monterey Park, for example, over the course of a day (or season). As a result, they’re proposing that the district establish a weather/air quality network. This would be an array of ten to eleven stations positioned around the Los Angeles basin, using our nine campuses and the Southern California Marine Institute Center as locations. If other colleges further to the east could be involved, such as Chaffey or Mt. Sac, that would deepen the data available. The plan is for all information collected by the network to be made accessible to students and to the general public via the Internet and cell phone connections. Careful study of the information collected would improve students’ analytical capabilities and broaden their understanding of our urban environment. While the information would be especially relevant in Geography, Environmental Science, Biology, and Chemistry, several other disciplines would also find it useful. The next step will be to present SEI’s idea to the leadership at the colleges to see if there is sufficient interest in moving forward. The project at East illustrates the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. Since the actual assembly and construction of the station was beyond his training and skill sets, Grimmer turned to Eddie Villanueva, who was able to integrate the various components of the instruments. Geography Department technician Nate Gallagher assisted, and Robert Wimmer of the Southern California Air Quality Management District, an East alumnus, gave very generously of his time and expertise. Dean Armando Rivera (now at City College) supplied encouragement and the necessary financial backing. 
John Grimmer and Nate Gallagher working on the weather/air quality station.
|
