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The Essential Role of Air Quality Monitoring

at U.S. Embassies and Consulates

+ Kevin Cromar, Noussair Lazrak

Introduction

The U.S. Department of State has discontinued public reporting of air quality data frommonitors deployed at U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide. Starting with the first embassymonitor in 2008, and rapidly expanding following the launch of the DOSAir program in 2015,this global network has been an invaluable resource, providing real-time air quality informationin many locations where no other reliable pollution monitoring exists or is not publicly reported(1). While these monitors have greatly benefited the local communities where they operate,this discussion focuses on the direct benefits to U.S. citizens—those living abroad and thoseresiding in the United States.

Nearly all of the expenses of the State Department’s air monitoring program are associatedwith the initial purchase of American-made air pollution monitoring equipment, and these costshave been more than directly offset by reductions in post hardship differential payments topersonnel stationed abroad (2). Ongoing maintenance expenses are relatively modest, on theorder of thousands of dollars per year, and represent a small investment given the substantialfinancial and operational benefits the program provides.

There are three primary ways these monitors have served American interests:

1. Protecting U.S. citizens abroad by providing critical air quality data for health andsafety;

2. Prompting foreign governments to take stronger pollution control actions, leading toemissions reductions that directly benefit the U.S.;

3. Providing essential ground-truth data that supports U.S. financial and scientificinvestments in air quality models and satellite systems.

Read the Article

Kevin Cromar

Kevin Cromar, PhD, is the Director of the Health, Environment, and Policy program at the Marron Institute of Urban Management and an Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine and Population Health at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Noussair Lazrak

Noussair Lazrak, PhD, is a Research Scientist in the Health, Environment, and Policy program at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management. He specializes in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and distributed systems, with applications in environmental and health domains.

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