e-shape pilot S2-P3 - EO-based pollution-health risks profiling in the urban environment

Description

According to UN's "World Urbanization Prospects: 2018 Revision" the urban population has reached 55% and is projected to increase to 66%. Moreover, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO, 2016) Ambient Air Pollution Global Assessment, only one person in ten lives in a city that complies with the WHO Air Quality (AQ) guidelines. In this context, open access to high quality AQ information to stakeholders in a timely and comprehensible manner to foster informed decision making is imperative. In the frame of the 'Health Surveillance Air Quality' Pilot (HSAQ), Earth observations for AQ (e.g. in situ monitoring stations, satellite retrievals, atmospheric numerical models, citizen observatories) are fused with population and health data towards tailored, added value products that support public air quality and health assessments, informed decision making as well as urban planning. In particular:

- An Aggregated Risk Index for pollution impacts on health is calculated, based on satellite data, for several megacities of the UNESCO list.
- Satellite-based observations are converted into NO2 surface concentrations to support for the first time the national AQ assessment of Finland delivered to the European Environmental Agency (EEA).
- Health risk due to exposure to air pollutant mixture (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3, SO2) is assessed for Munich (at the zip postal level) and other megacities of the globe, through the exploitation of the World Settlement Footprint.
- High resolution, population weighted PM2.5 concentration levels are assessed for the city of Bari, following the definition of the UN SDG 11.6.2.
- Dynamic mapping of population exposure to air pollution is estimated, with emphasis on the exposure above the newly published (late 2021) WHO air quality guidelines for NO2 and PM2.5, in Athens.



Acknowledgment
The e-shape project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 820852.

Knowledge Resources

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