Data
Air Quality, Quantified
Utilize our collection of independently researched air particulate and pollution data, charts & visualizations for your own educational purposes.
Feel free to share or use any of the graphs below. Just cite to Puraka Clean Air Research when you do.
What U.S. Cities Have Done the Most to Reduce Particulate Pollution?
Using data provided by Puraka, financial advice site Walletwyse
put together this interactive chart showing which U.S. cities have made the most progress over the past 15 years in reducing the level of particulate pollution and corresponding AQI score. Follow the brown line below to compare each city's score to the U.S. average for metros over 250,000 people. While the top five cities are generally note quite at the U.S. average yet, their progress in reducing air pollution is impressive!
Where Does Air Pollution Come From?
Airborne particulates come from a variety of different sources. Learn what they are, and see how they change during wildfire season.
When we talk about air pollution, we will often use the abbreviation PM, which stands for Particulate Matter. There is some amount of natural PM, also known as Particle Pollution, in every breath we take. There are two main factors that tell us whether PM is harmful:
1. Size: "Fine" particulates smaller than 2.5 micro-meters (um) are more dangerous than 10 um PM.
2. Concentration: 45 micro-grams (ug) per cubic meter of Fine Particulates is significantly more harmful than 10 ug per m3.
Typically, the main sources of harmful Fine Particulates are Ammonium Nitrates & Sulfates, Vehicle Emmission, Controlled Biomass fires (such as your grill or your fireplace), and natural dust. During periods when pollution from wildfire smoke becomes a problem, the Uncontrolled Biomass category becomes the largest individual contributor to 2.5 um PMI. To put things in perspective, on a typical August day during the summer of 2018, wildfire smoke was the source of a whopping 73% of harmful particulates.
The takeaway? Normally, there is no dominant source of harmful Fine Particulates. We should all do what we can do reduce ALL sources of air pollution to minimize long term harm. Forest fire pollution, however, can quickly become the single-largest source of pollution in many parts of the country, putting a special emphasis on how important it is to our respiratory health that we mitigate their frequency, duration and growth. Wear a pollution mask if you go outside during wildfire season!
How Many Cigarettes is a Summer of Air Pollution?
Particle pollution and cigarette smoke can have a similarly adverse impact on your respiratory system. The map below shows the equivalent number of cigarettes you would have been exposed to by equivalent amount of 2.5 PM during the summer of 2017.
According to research by Richard and Elizabeth Muller, a day's exposure to 22 micrograms / m3 of 2.5 particulate matter is equivalent to around one cigarette, in terms of the damage it can cause to your body. We were curious how many cigarettes a summer's worth of air pollution exposure was equivalent to, so we ran the numbers for July to September, 2017 (the last year for which full data is available). Along with 2018, that summer saw record number of wildfires and particulate pollution in urban areas. Check out the graph below to see the numbers for your area.