Something in the air? ESA service warns asthma sufferers by mo...( We all wonder what is in the air for 20...),Health

We all wonder what is in the air for 2006 - but for people with asthma and other breathing problems, advance knowledge of air pollution levels is very important. An ESA-backed project is forecasting daily forecasts via text message to selected individuals in parts of London and the London borough of Croydon.

As the video above recounts, the service anticipated especially high levels of air pollution during late June 2005, when a concentrated air pollution mass formed over central Europe. The winds carried that pollution to England, with ozone reaching harmful levels in London on 24 to 26 June.

However as part of a portfolio of services called PROMOTE, this development was predicted by the sophisticated French air quality modelling service PREV'AIR. Another PROMOTE service, YourAir, then included these inputs when modelling local air quality in the London borough of Croydon. Then, through a trial system called AirTEXT, a warning was sent via SMS text messages to around a thousand people with asthma or other vulnerable conditions, one day in advance of the elevated ozone levels.

The YourAir service combines regional air quality forecasts from PROMOTE partners with information on local road traffic patterns. The regional air quality information is important because not all pollution affecting a city actually originates there studies show that up to half may originate elsewhere.

The forecasts include predictions of overall effects on health on an index from one to ten. The YourAir service resolves air pollution down to the scale of individual streets highest levels are often found along routes with heavy traffic or other pollution sources, so information on street-by-street changes in pollution help vulnerable people make informed choices about their movements.

The prototype service covers Central London and Croydon in South London, which is one of the city's largest boroughs by area and the largest by population, with 330
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Contact: Claus Zehner
Claus.Zehner@esa.int
39-069-418-0551
European Space Agency
5-Jan-2006

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