Commentary: The Ghana Urban Air Quality Project (GHAir): Bridging air pollution data gaps in Ghana

Sewor, Christian; Obeng, Akua A.; Amegah, A. Kofi

doi:10.17159/caj/2021/31/1.11172

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…A growing body of literature highlights the potential value of LCS technologies for Sub-Saharan Africa and other low-resource settings (Subramanian and Garland, 2021;Wernecke and Wright, 2021;Rahal, 2020;Sewor et al, 2021;Awokola et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Characterization of Low-cost Air Quality Sensors for Off-grid Deployment in Rural Malawi

Bittner

Cross²,

Hagan³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Low-cost gas and particulate sensor packages offer a compact, lightweight, and easily transportable solution to address global gaps in air quality (AQ) observations. However, regions that would benefit most from widespread deployment of low-cost AQ monitors often lack the reference grade equipment required to reliably calibrate and validate them. In this study, we explore approaches to calibrating and validating three integrated sensor packages before a 1-year deployment to rural Malawi using collocation data collected at a regulatory site in North Carolina, USA. We compare the performance of five computational modelling approaches to calibrate the electrochemical gas sensors: k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) hybrid, random forest (RF) hybrid, high-dimensional model representation (HDMR), multilinear regression (MLR), and quadratic regression (QR). For the CO, Ox, NO, and NO2 sensors, we found that kNN hybrid models returned the highest coefficients of determination and lowest error metrics when validated; they also appeared to be the most transferable approach when applied to field data collected in Malawi. We compared calibrated CO observations to remote sensing data in two regions in Malawi and found qualitative agreement in spatial and annual trends. However, the monthly mean surface observations were 2 to 4 times higher than the remote sensing data, possibly due to proximity to small-scale combustion activity not resolved by satellite imaging. We also compared the performance of the integrated Alphasense OPC-N2 optical particle counter to a filter-corrected nephelometer using collocation data collected at one of our deployment sites in Malawi. We found the performance of the OPC-N2 varied widely with environmental conditions, with the worst performance associated with high relative humidity (RH > 70 %) conditions and influence from emissions from nearby biomass cookstoves. We did not find obvious evidence of systematic sensor performance decay after the 1-year deployment to Malawi; however, overall data recovery was limited by insufficient power and access to technical resources at deployment sites. Future low-cost sensor deployments to rural Sub-Saharan Africa would benefit from adaptable power systems, standardized sensor calibration methodologies, and increased regulatory grade regional infrastructure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Characterization of Low-cost Air Quality Sensors for Off-grid Deployment in Rural Malawi

Bittner

Cross²,

Hagan³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…In light of this, the Ghana Urban Air Quality Project (GHAir) was founded in May 2019 with the overarching purpose of closing Ghana's air pollution data and epidemiologic study gap. This initiative has currently installed low-cost sensors, a combination of PurpleAir sensors, Clarity nodes, RAMPs, and Modulair-PM, in five Ghanaian metropolitan areas 35 . Through these deployments, the initiative has established significant cooperation with metropolitan authorities, particularly the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).…”

Section: Ghana's Action Plan Interventions On Health and Air Pollutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Pollution and Health: Particulate Matter PM2.5 Measurements in Cantonments, Ghana

Gyasi

Amu-Darko

Issaka

et al. 2022

EPRA

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Particulate matter (PM) air pollution research has improved our understanding of major pollution sources and the quantification of their impact. Although several PM studies have been conducted in Accra, Ghana, in recent decades, few have offered an integrated knowledge of PM sources in the various sub-cities. The purpose of this study was to consolidate data and investigate additional aspects of PM investigations of Cantonments, a residential neighborhood in Ghanas capital. There is evidence of poor air quality in Accra, particularly during the dry season (Harmattan season). From December through February, a severely dry, dusty easterly or north-easterly wind sweeps over the West African coast, causing Harmattan. The PM2.5 concentrations for Cantonments for two years and the average monthly air quality indices were analysed and discussed. The results reveal the need to regularly check the daily air quality indices and curb their impacts since it has a notable health effect on the general public. KEYWORDS: PM2.5; Air pollution; Public health; Accra; Ghana

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“…We continue to support ongoing efforts to promote knowledge transfer among Global South, underserved, or underresourced communities. Supporting local knowledge and open data access in such communities is already demonstrated in monitoring efforts around the world, including AfriqAir, GHAir, SAMOSA, , and Belmont (Ohio, United States), as well as in open-access publishing, such as the new PLOS policy on inclusion in global research. Encouraging the publishing of locally generated data sets in the appropriate repositories also builds research capacity, increases the visibility of contributions from the Global South contributions, and broadens the pathway to gain citations for those contributions .…”

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confidence: 99%

To Share or Not To Share? Academic Incentives May Hamper Public Good

Ivey

Amegah

Hodoli³

et al. 2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Commentary: The Ghana Urban Air Quality Project (GHAir): Bridging air pollution data gaps in Ghana

Cited by 12 publications

References 12 publications

Performance Characterization of Low-cost Air Quality Sensors for Off-grid Deployment in Rural Malawi

Performance Characterization of Low-cost Air Quality Sensors for Off-grid Deployment in Rural Malawi

Air Pollution and Health: Particulate Matter PM2.5 Measurements in Cantonments, Ghana

To Share or Not To Share? Academic Incentives May Hamper Public Good

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