{"684388":{"#nid":"684388","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"In a new era of wildfires, the Air Quality Index needs a revamp","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe new \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ascent.research.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EAtmospheric Science and Chemistry Measurement Network (ASCENT)\u003C\/a\u003E offers an example of what a stationary network of specialized air quality sensors might look like in the future. The network comprises 12 air-quality-monitoring stations located across the US and maintained by local university scientists. Each station contains a suite of instruments capable of determining the particle size distribution and chemical composition of PM2.5 in real time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe final ASCENT site began sampling in May 2024, says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/ng-nga-lee\u0022\u003ENga Lee (Sally) Ng\u003C\/a\u003E, the lead researcher of the network and professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/\u0022 title=\u0022School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Since then, all the sites have been fully operational.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn January, as the Eaton fire burned, its plume blew through an ASCENT site located in southeast Los Angeles. In real time, the local researchers watched the measured concentration of lead-containing PM2.5 jump above safe limits. \u201cWithout the speciated chemical measurement, we would not know that [the community was] being exposed to high levels of lead for a short period of time during the fire,\u201d Ng says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe data from the LA fires are some of the first the ASCENT team has made publicly available, but ultimately all the data will be available for people to view. And when it comes to AQI, Ng sees ASCENT as a possible starting point for expanding PM2.5 standards.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe new \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ascent.research.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EAtmospheric Science and Chemistry Measurement Network (ASCENT)\u003C\/a\u003E offers an example of what a stationary network of specialized air quality sensors might look like in the future. The network comprises 12 air-quality-monitoring stations located across the US and maintained by local university scientists. Each station contains a suite of instruments capable of determining the particle size distribution and chemical composition of PM2.5 in real time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe final ASCENT site began sampling in May 2024, says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/ng-nga-lee\u0022\u003ENga Lee (Sally) Ng\u003C\/a\u003E, the lead researcher of the network and professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/\u0022 title=\u0022School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Since then, all the sites have been fully operational.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn January, as the Eaton fire burned, its plume blew through an ASCENT site located in southeast Los Angeles. In real time, the local researchers watched the measured concentration of lead-containing PM2.5 jump above safe limits. \u201cWithout the speciated chemical measurement, we would not know that [the community was] being exposed to high levels of lead for a short period of time during the fire,\u201d Ng says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe data from the LA fires are some of the first the ASCENT team has made publicly available, but ultimately all the data will be available for people to view. And when it comes to AQI, Ng sees ASCENT as a possible starting point for expanding PM2.5 standards.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-09-03 17:52:29","changed_gmt":"2025-09-04 14:39:54","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"Chemical and Engineering News","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/cen.acs.org\/environment\/atmospheric-chemistry\/new-era-wildfires-Air-Quality\/103\/web\/2025\/08","dateline":{"date":"2025-08-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-08-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"364801","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS)"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"745","name":"air quality"},{"id":"175593","name":"School  of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}