The NASA health and air quality applied sciences team (h-aqast) has the potential to transform the role of satellite data and other NASA products in the health and air quality management…

This federal contract award was made by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the University of Wisconsin System's University of Wisconsin - Madison division, operating as Research and Sponsored Programs, as the prime contractor. The $1,566,438.00 grant is for the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (H-AQAST) program, which aims to transform the role of satellite data and other NASA products in the health and air quality management communities. The award does not have a set-aside designation. The University of Wisconsin System, as the prime contractor, will focus on several high-impact, low-cost opportunities to leverage the value of satellite data for applications related to air quality and public health, working closely with stakeholder partners. The award date is August 17, 2016, with a completion date of August 16, 2021.

The NASA health and air quality applied sciences team (h-aqast) has the potential to transform the role of satellite data and other NASA products in the health and air quality management communities. If selected to participate in h-aqast, the PI and collaborators would bring to the team expertise in air quality, satellite data, and public health, especially as applied to policy needs and stakeholder engagement. Two challenges in particular relate to the expertise of our group: 1) evaluation of satellite data products as air quality and health indicators; and 2) integration of satellite data into decision frameworks for air quality and health. Our activities focus on the U.S., although most methods and data sources are transferable to a global context. As such, we are able to contribute to collaborative activities through the h-aqast tiger team process, supporting analyses on a global basis. We have identified six projects where our group's h-aqast research holds the potential to transform the utilization of satellite data in health and air quality applications: 1) integration of satellite-derived formaldehyde to support the national air toxics assessment; 2) enabling the use of satellite data for routine air quality model evaluation; 3) characterizing ozone production regime with satellite data, in support of policies, planning, and trend assessment; 4) reconciling top-down constraints on NO2 from the OMI instrument with bottom-up factors determining U.S. NOX emissions in urban areas; 5) applying modis products to the regional haze rule and fire assessment, including new modis data from the goes-r satellite launching in october 2016; 6) applying a new, global chemical reanalysis from CO-i pierce to health and air quality applications. We focus our activities on high-impact, low-cost opportunities to leverage the value of satellite data, guided by input from our stakeholder partners. Our activities will connect with a wide network of policy and health professionals, with especially close input from CO-investigators. Through h-aqast, we will build on current relationships and cultivate new collaborations. Our group will work to ensure that many existing aqast stakeholders are well integrated with the new h-aqast. The PI is also applying to serve as h-aqast team leader. The PI has served as deputy leader of NASA aqast, overseeing communication and outreach activities, and participating in broader team budget, planning, and evaluation activities. The PI has the background, experience and vision to support the new h-aqast. If selected, she will work to advance the benefit of NASA data and tools to stakeholders, to the public, and to global health.