Bad Air? Sensors can help, for example, PurpleAir

[Chas Tennis]

I moved to California last year and have asthma. It does not rain here for several months in a row. High winds come up in the fall when everything is driest and that causes the wildfires as you have seen on TV news.

What can you do?

One thing that helps considerably is to know where the smoke is, how bad it is , and to know what the smoke level is inside your home. One source of sensor data is the site with PurpleAir sensors. You can view outside conditions on many sensors around your home on the internet. You need an indoor sensor of your own to measure inside your home.

Search

PurpleAir Maps
Expand the map around your location or type in your city or state.

Inside each circle is a number. The numbers are the EPA Air Quality Index (AQI) for particle size <2.5 micrometers based on measurements from PurpleAir sensors.

The sensors with black rings around them are indoor sensors.

The sensors with no rings are outdoor sensors.

If you click on the sensor circle, it shows the history of sensor readings for a few days.

The sensors will also read particle size 10 micrometers and other measurements. Temp and humidity and well as the direct densities of 2.5 & 10 um in ugm/M^3 plus several raw count measumrents. The EPA highlights both PM 2.5 Air Quality Indexes and Ozone parts per billion as two of the most hazardous air pollutants.

If you know the outdoor Air Quality Index you know when
1) to play tennis or not
2) when to open windows or not

If you know the indoor Air Quality Index you know
3) when to use indoor air cleaners such as HEPA air cleaners.
4) when to open windows when cooking makes the indoor air of your home very high in cooking pollutants.

There are many sources of information on the hazards of small particulates in the air and for ozone. Lately, they say that particulates can get into your blood stream and add to the risks of strokes and cardiovascular disease.

This is how bad the air can become. Also, note the contributing factors such as farmers burning vegetation to clear land. In California, they are considering increasing 'controlled burns' as a measure to reduce wildfires.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50280390

.

 

[ollinger]

If you know the outdoor Air Quality Index you know when
1) to play tennis or not
2) when to open windows or not

If you know the indoor Ait Quality Index
3) when to use indoor air cleaners such as HEPA air cleaners.
4) when to open windows when cooking makes the indoor air of your home very high in pollutants

people CHOOSE to live in such a place!

 

[GBplayer]

Have you thought of living in a submerged biosphere?

Just don't open the window when cooking.

 

[Chas Tennis]

Effects of air quality on the heart and circulatory system. Especially the small particulates get into the blood stream through the lungs. And more..... I have been just learning about this but the relation between moderate pollution levels and mortality sounds serious.

Link.

Air particulate matter and cardiovascular disease: the epidemiological, biomedical and clinical evidence

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Chas Tennis]

I just found this air quality website. A map of Melbourne is lower on the webpage.

Usually the pm 2.5 um pollutant is the one that gets attention as a common hazard of smoke.

The color codes to indicate the risk of each pollutant appear to be those used by the EPA Air Quality Index (AQI) but I have just found this and need to check that the color code is the same.

Melbourne Air Pollution: Real-time Air Quality Index

aqicn.org

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Exhale. You should be fine if you avoid inhaling. Problem solved.

 

[Chas Tennis]

I was very surprised when my sensor was going above 400 AQI from cooking. I also have a portable sensor. My cabinet oven has a top-front vent just below face height. There, the sensor has read 950+ at my oven vent. It is surprising without ventilation how it may spread throughout the house with small air currents. If you don't do something in a closed house these very high levels can last for hours. Using cross ventilation - with clean air outside - the air can be cleaned of cooking smoke in several minutes not a few hours. The number of these particles that may get caught up in your lings is equal to exposure X time. There are HEPA air cleaners for homes. All of these measures depend on measuring the particulates in the indoor and outdoor air.

Exposure to you lungs equals the density per cubic meter X the time of exposure. The breathing rate at say, AQI 300, determines the number of cubic meters that you have breathed in. 5 sets running hard, must be a lot of cubic meters. Above AQI X? don't play tennis. Have they ever had a grand slam down wind of a wildfire?

Most non-smokers will probably die with their lungs still working fine. But they are saying the incidence of asthma in children has risen. California has bad air quality. If you look at the number of PurpleAir sensors in the world, you will see that California probably has the highest density of them. Search: PurpleAir Map

There is probably uncertainty about what pollution means for immediately damaging your lungs. The appreciation of the problem will be on display in the next two weeks at the AO unless rain comes and reduces the burning and cleans the air.

Playing 5 sets is high AQI pollution - from the thoughts that I have been reading in the news - is now part of the Tennis Air Quality Nuthouse. I hear that they have a roof.......