12-17, 09:45–10:00 (Asia/Bangkok), Auditorium Hall 1
Air pollution in Southeast Asia has reached critical levels, significantly impacting human health across the region. Nearly the entire population lives in areas where air pollution exceeds the World Health Organization’s (WHO) safe air standards. This severe pollution is primarily due to rapid industrialization, urbanization, and deforestation, which have increased the amount of harmful pollutants in the air, particularly fine particulate matter known as PM2.5. Seasonal agricultural burning, a common practice in the region, also contributes significantly by releasing large quantities of smoke and particulate matter into the air. The rapid pace of urbanization has led to increased vehicle emissions and construction activities, further degrading air quality.
To address this issue, SERVIR Southeast Asia (SEA), a joint initiative of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) — its implementing partner, has developed the "SERVIR Southeast Asia Air Quality Explorer" to monitor air pollution and health impacts using satellite data and atmospheric modeling. The application uses advanced data visualization techniques to present complex datasets in an accessible manner. By harnessing the power of satellite data and predictive models, we hope that the SERVIR Southeast Asia Air Quality Explorer (SEA AQE) serves as a valuable resource for policymakers, researchers, and the general public, empowering them to make informed decisions to mitigate the adverse effects of air pollution.
The Air Quality Explorer features a user-friendly interface accessible on both desktop and mobile devices, allowing users to monitor real-time air pollution levels, including three-day forecasts of PM2.5 with a 5 km resolution and NO2 from Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS). The application also features a fire hotspot map, helping users anticipate changes in air quality. It ranks cities over the Southeast Asia regions based on their PM2.5 levels and integrates PM2.5 data with a health index to translate the data into actionable health recommendations. Additionally, the tool includes six-hourly forecast wind data from NOAA and ground station data from Thailand’s Pollution Control Department (PCD), offering a comprehensive view of air quality dynamics across the region.
This project highlights the potential of combining satellite technology and forecast modeling with web-based platforms to improve environmental monitoring and decision-making in Southeast Asia. SERVIR SEA and collaborators will continue to enhance this tool with new useful data, such as high resolution of forecast PM2.5, fire risk, and fire emission inventory products, enabling users to link and analyze these with air pollution indicators. Additionally, the power of large language models (LLMs) will be applied to this tool, allowing users to input queries in natural language. This feature will translate user input into data retrieval commands, providing users with the desired results and making the tool even more accessible and user-friendly. Furthermore, we will develop “SERVIR SEA AQ API” service to provide air pollution satellite image data and json format data for integration on other platforms.
