PM2.5 Open Data Portal

What is PM_2.5?

There are many kinds of air pollution. Some pollution is visible to the naked eye. Most are not. Scientists classify air pollution into two main categories: gasses and suspended particles. The sum of all suspended liquid particles are collectively known as particulate matter.

Particulate matter (PM) is a term used to describe the mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets in the air.

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-iPL0vz57PtQ0dmMTRhalkzUHM/view

Source: http://www.ipc.digital/particulas-pm25-matam-35-milhoes-de-pessoas-por-ano/

There are several subtypes of inhalable particulate matter. Scientists classify these subtypes by size. Coarse particles with a diameter less than 10 micrometers (μm) are classified as PM10. Fine particles with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less are classified as PM_2.5. The measuring unit for particulate matter microgram per cubic meter. These fine particles are smaller than one-twenty-eighth of the diameter of a human hair.

What is the relationship between particulate matter and the health of the human body? The size of the particle is the main determinant of where it will lodge in your respiratory system! The following table shows where the particulate matter of a given size will rest in your lungs.

Larger particles are generally filtered in the nose and throat via cilia and mucus. However, particles that are 10 micrometers (μm) and smaller, can reach the bronchi in your lungs. When the human’s airways cannot properly clear the particulate matter, they may result in respiratory distress or long-term chronic health issues. For particles 2.5 micrometers or less (PM_2.5), these fine particles have the most serious adverse effect on human health, as they can pass into the blood stream or the blood brain barrier.

Where does PM_2.5 come from?

The sources of PM_2.5 are complicated. It can be divided into two main categories: natural phenomena and the human activities. Fossil fuel burning whether it is for electricity or vehicle use is a significant source of air pollution. Exhaust gasses from industrial sources are also a major source of PM_2.5. Our energy choices that enable our modern lifestyles have an impact on the collective health. PM_2.5 also comes from natural phenomena like forest fires, volcanoes, and dust storms due to poor management.

According to the Department of Health statistics (Taiwan), various domestic (primary emission) sources accounted for the following:

Hazards of PM_2.5

The WHO reports that over 92% of the world’s population are exposed to air pollution that is above the organization’s air quality guideline (AQG) annual mean levels of 10 μg/m3. Similarly, a study conducted by College of Public Health, National Taiwan University and Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health Welfare in 2017 observed that PM_2.5 has the fourth attributed risk to death in Taiwan. It is right up there with high blood glucose, tobacco, and high blood pressure. Let’s take a moment to understand the hazards of PM_2.5.

How？

Types of harms

In a larger scope

What harm does PM_2.5 cause?

We can classify the harms due to PM_2.5 into acute (fast) harms and chronic (slow) harm. To estimate the severity and the root causes, let’s look at the epidemiology research.

Acute Harm

Acute harm from PM_2.5 is mostly the result of bodily immune responses to particles in your respiratory track. When leucocytes (more specifically, macrophages) in the respiratory tract detect PM_2.5 entering the human body, they will react by creating immune response to try to expel the particles. Depending on the PM_2.5 concentration the human body may react with an enormous immune response, resulting in coughing, asthma, or even lower respiratory symptoms (e.g., bronchitis, bronchiolitis). The table below is the correlation between PM_2.5 and acute effects by the Harvard Six-City Study.

What is “Odds Ratio” in the table above? Roughly speaking, odds ratio is similar to "Risk." Being exposed to PM_2.5 concentration of 15μg/m3 in the long term causes an increase of 33% in the risk of obtaining lower respiratory symptoms and an increased of 16% in the risk of coughing without other symptoms.

While increased risk does not seem “large” on an individual basis, the public health implications are tremendous. We all know tobacco smoke results harmful effects, similarly the correlation between PM2.5 related bodily harm may be significantly influenced by whether the person smokes or has contacted with second hand and so on. Consequently, medical researchers and public health officials are concerned about the impact to vulnerable communities.

Which communities are affected the most? Children and seniors. Have you observed that children in the urban areas are more susceptible asthma or allergies? PM2.5 may be the culprit responsible.

Chronic Harm

Emission of PM2.5 from industrial sources and combustion mostly contain nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. This is harmful to the human body due to acidic nature. Prolong exposure raises the risk of cancer.

Epidemiology studies have indicated that long-term exposure to PM_2.5 increases the risk of lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, leukemia, and several types of cancer. Among chronic diseases associated with PM_2.5, lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases (usually abbreviated as CVD) are the ones that have been the most thoroughly researched. The table below is the result of the Harvard Six-City Research, which aims to depict the correlation of PM_2.5 and chronic diseases.

The study specifically factored tobacco smoke to determine whether there were additional factors that increase patient risk. The result of the study found that despite the person's history with tobacco smoke, PM2.5 is responsible for an additional increased risk of lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

In addition, PM2.5 can often degrade inhalation capacity after entering the respiratory tract, causing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is also evidenced by epidemiology research.

Source Management

Dust Control in Factories

In older factories, gases produced as a byproduct of material processing can create a tremendous amount of PM2.5 and other types of air pollution emissions. For factory workers and the residents around a factory, it is important to have treatment facilitates to address the air exhaust from industrial processes.

Exhaust Control on Vehicle

Most vehicles operate by burning gasoline or diesel fuel. Not surprisingly, a range of carbon compounds and toxic gasses are produced as waste. Catalytic converters and other mitigations techniques are helpful but not as beneficial in dense urban areas. In order to decrease the amount of PM2.5 and other toxic matter in the air, consider taking public transit.

If you must use a vehicle, it is important you purchase a vehicle with the highest possible fuel efficiency ratings. The less fuel you burn means less PM2.5 in the air.

Energy Consumption

Today the burning of coal, gasoline and fossil fuel are the main PM_2.5's emission sources. We can decrease our need for burning these ingredients by switching our energy resources to greener alternatives. Renewable resources like solar, hydropower, wind and even biogas are better than fossil fuel. While fossil fuels may appear to be cheaper than renewables, the public health and productivity costs are tremendous and are eventually born by the taxpayer. Furthermore, within the next year or so, prices for renewable electricity in many markets will be the same if not cheaper as that of fossil fuels.

Government Regulation

The government can establish and enforce an appropriate air quality standard. The easiest way is to set an emission limit for each industry and when the limit is breached, individual companies can resort to two solutions:

1. Enable the free trade of emission credits on the open market, where company’s that pollute less can sell their credits to a company that produces more.

2. Implement an enforcement and monitoring mechanism sufficiently severe to discourage companies from repeatedly exceeding their quotas.

Environmental Education Awareness

Air pollution control should not just be the government's job alone. Every citizen needs to understand their impact of their usage behavior, the energy choices available and learn about the public health impact of PM_2.5. Billboards, school programs and interactive media can increase awareness at the national, provincial and local level. An informed citizenry can help each other and take the necessary actions to protect the children and elderly. It can also mobilize people to make better choices in their daily energy usage, transportation choices and purchasing decisions.

Reducing exposure to PM_2.5

When the PM2.5 levels are high, the best way to protect ourselves is to reduce the exposure to PM_2.5. Here are some steps to take:

Stay indoors and turn on an air purifier preferably with a HEPA filter. If you don’t have an air cleaner, use the built-in filtration functions of your air-conditioner. Remember to turn off the fresh-air-intake option at all times and keep the windows closed until you know the air is clean.

We inhale more air and breathe faster when doing strenuous exercises. When engaging in intensive activities like jogging, find an indoor gym.

Common dust masks are unable to obstruct fine particles such as PM_2.5. To protect oneself from inhaling PM_2.5, use a particulate respirator, such as the N-95 respirator. Make sure the respirator fits well over your nose and mouth to prevent seepage from the sides of the mask. If the respirators do not fit well, the fine particles will still enter your respiratory system.

There are many sources of indoor air pollution: smoking, the burning of incense, outgassing from paint. Clean the house by wet mopping not just vacuuming with a HEPA equipped vacuum cleaner to minimize dust.

Who is more vulnerable to PM_2.5?

The young and elderly are not the only people vulnerable to PM_2.5. People with cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases are also at risk. Take extra care if your health condition falls into any of these categories.

How can I track PM_2.5 levels?

In the PM_2.5 Open Data Portal, you can get real-time information of PM2.5 concentrations in for an area that has a sensor installed. "The Voronoi Diagram" and "The IDW Diagram" show the distribution of PM2.5 concentration. "g0v Air Pollution Map" shows the location and PM2.5 concentration of each station.

If you want to see the changes of PM2.5 concentration in Taiwan during the last 24 hours, you can view the "IDW animation in last 24 hours".

Read the EPA's "PM2.5 index and Activity Recommendations" there are recommendations on what precautions you need to take under different circumstances.

Data Visualization

Sensor Dashboard Powered by Grafana

The dashboard presents aggregated data available over the last 24 hours.
To see the sensor data from a particular device, click the title of the dashboard will show up a search field. Type the device ID to search.
To query the historical data, click the top-right corner of the dashboard to select the desired time range.

Go to Dashboard System

Geospatial Visualizations

The Voronoi Diagram

A Voronoi diagram partitions a plane into regions based on the distance to a specific subset, in this case the sensor location, of the plane.

The IDW Diagram

Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) is a type of deterministic method for multivariate interpolation with a known scattered set of points.

g0v Air Pollution Map

The g0v Real Time Air Pollution Map was developed by g0v.tw open government. This site presents the geo-location and PM_2.5 real-time data of all the PM_2.5 stations.