Dear KAUST community,
The Air Quality Task Force has now completed its six objectives. The culmination of these efforts has led to the official launch of a KAUST air quality website.
The website contains Air Quality Index (AQI) data which is consistent with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards and is updated every 15 minutes. The website also contains background information and a Frequently Asked Questions section to enable informed decisions regarding outdoor activities.
Although the Air Quality Task Force members will continue to provide support, the responsibility for air quality at KAUST will now transition to its natural home with Health, Safety & Environment (HSE). Ongoing work will focus on:
- Understanding which local air quality issues are man made versus natural outcomes of the desert environment
- Watching for any spike in concentration values that could be caused by a point source (e.g. Rabigh) in order to quickly respond through established government channels
- Enabling “nowcasting” capabilities to further improve informed decision making
HSE, along with resident experts, will continue to review the best approaches for communicating air quality metrics based on additional data and feedback received. To this end, the KAUST community is encouraged to provide feedback by writing to hse@kaust.edu.sa.
The Air Quality Task Force would like to thank President Chan for fast-tracking the purchase of air quality monitoring equipment in response to community concerns. We would also like to thank the Lab Equipment Maintenance team for their technical support in procuring, installing and configuring the equipment.
We hope that the launch of this air quality website will provide an additional mechanism for staying healthy and keeping safe, particularly in these challenging times.
Sincerely,
The Air Quality Task Force
John Tannaci, Chair
Erik Talley, Vice Chair
Ana Margarida Costa
Chye De Ryckel
Kent Haworth
Matthew McCabe
Gera Stenchikov
Nicolas Lemée, Secretary