Eruption spurs creation of real-time air pollution network
As red molten lava oozed out of Kilauea on the Island of Hawaii (“the Big Island”) in May 2018, destroying houses and property in its path, clouds of ash particles and toxic gases from the volcano — known as vog — filled the air and drifted across the island with the wind. Even before this most recent phase of the Kilauea eruption, air quality was a major concern for citizens across the island. Researchers from MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) have worked closely with citizens on Hawaii Island for several years to monitor air quality from the volcano using low-cost sensors. The researchers were even planning to launch a large-scale air quality project funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but the emergency conditions created by Kilauea starting in the spring of last year, and the urgent demands for air pollution data from community groups and state...