Let’s talk about the air in Khabarovsk. Now there is a serious problem: the city is covered in smoke from forest fires. But I wonder what information we have about air quality?
If you look at popular weather services such as Yandex.Weather, Accuweather, Windy and Google, then everyone except Google says that Khabarovsk seems to have “average” air quality. This is strange, considering that the city is covered in smoke.
In such cases, you have to turn to specialized services that are more attentive to air quality, such as IQAir (aka AirVisual), Tomorrow.io, Breezometer and Waqi.info (public network). For example, IQAir builds a fairly accurate model of the spread of smoke from fires, but is also mistaken in indicating the “average” level of pollution.
It is important to note that networks such as Breezometer and Waqi.info honestly report the lack of data from this location.
Why is that? Most services try to fill information gaps using pollution modeling and satellite data. However, in regions where there are no sensors or satellite imagery, this approach may not be accurate enough. Therefore, it is important that there are civil initiatives that collect their data.
For example, we have this small civilian network called Nebo. We collect data from the area with the help of residents and transfer it to an open map. This data is more accurate and up-to-date than that of large companies such as IQAir, Accuweather, Yandex, Windy or Google.
And in fact, it is not necessary to use Nebo sensors to collect data; you can use sensors from the same Iqair or Purpleairthey all have a fairly good level of data quality.
If you don’t see an actual sensor on a map of your city, then I would suggest trusting your senses, the sensor on your air purifier, and your nose. This is better than relying on simulated data with “average” values.
It is important to understand that networks such as Nebo do not replace government air monitoring networks. But they are important when government agencies and tech companies are unable or unwilling to collect data. Nebo is like an add-on to get more accurate information.
At the time of writing, according to the data Sky in Khabarovsk, the level of air pollution is characterized as “Hazardous” on the AQI scale and exceeds the threshold of the maximum permissible concentration according to Russian standards. Data from all the services mentioned above were taken for the same period.
This is how we publish air quality data for Russia in our Telegram channel “Clear Sky”
If you have links to services with more accurate information, write them in the comments.
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