Dr. Xi Chen
Credentials: University of Iowa
Email: xi-chen-4@uiowa.edu
Website: Dr. Xi Chen's website
Dr. Xi Chen is an assistant research scientist in the University of Iowa and an expert in satellite aerosol retrieval and its application in air quality estimates. She has developed aerosol layer centroid height products from various platforms including polar satellite TROPOMI, deep space imager EPIC/DSCOVR and current/future geostationary missions TEMPO and GEO-XO.
HAQAST Project: Support Air Quality and Public Health Management in Wildfires: Satellite and Machine Learning Based Air Quality Forecast
Dr. Chen’s project will improve data-driven machine learning air pollution forecasts in wildfires by incorporating aerosol layer centroid height (AOCH) of smoke plumes. Using TROPOMI and TEMPO data, this project will apply satellite AOCH to a surface PM2.5 forecast. Building on the successful FireAQ project, air quality managers will be engaged in evaluating the performance of AOCH products and PM2.5 forecasts to support decision-making, especially the demonstrations of exceptional wildfire events.
Project goals / deliverables:
- Apply aerosol optical centroid height (AOCH) algorithm developed for TROPOMI to TEMPO measurements to generate hourly AOCH and AOD product for wildfire smoke in the continental United States.
- Use state-of-the-art machine learning tool to forecast the 3-hour average surface PM2.5 distribution over continental United States in the near future under smoke conditions, considering TEMPO AOCH measurements.
- In collaboration with stakeholders, evaluate the performance of TEMPO AOCH and machine learning PM2.5 forecasting in decision-making activities relevant to smoke pollution by analyzing exceptional wildfire events and explore the potential to yield near-real-time (NRT) products.
Co-investigators and partners: Jun Wang (University of Iowa), Huanxin Zhang (University of Iowa), Meng Zhou (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), Martha Webster (Maine Department of Environmental Protection), Dan Welsh (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment), Byeong-Uk Kim (Georgia Environmental Protection Division), Leif Paulson (Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality)