New Report: Satellite Technology Holds Promise for Communities Without Air Quality Monitors

The American Lung Association today released a new report, “Something in the Air: Bridging the Air Quality Data Gap with Satellite Technology,” highlighting the potential for satellite-derived data to complement the existing U.S. air quality monitoring network. Focusing on fine particulate matter (PM2.5), one of the most harmful air pollutants to human health, this report emphasizes how emerging technologies, such as satellites, can help provide critical air quality information to underserved communities lacking official monitoring data. 

The report finds that while regulatory ground-based monitoring stations provide critical air quality data, many regions in the U.S. lack comprehensive coverage, particularly rural areas. In the 2024 “State of the Air” report, only 885 of the more than 3,000 U.S. counties had enough data to be graded for at least one pollutant. Satellite technology offers a valuable supplement to fill those gaps, delivering insight into the air quality in unmonitored areas.

“Communities without local air quality monitors may be facing dangerous levels of particle pollution without official data to point to in order to advocate for change. Satellite-derived data presents an exciting opportunity to augment the existing network of monitors and improve our understanding of air quality across the country. Our hope is that this results in more communities having valuable information about air quality levels so they can better protect their health,” said Harold Wimmer, President and CEO of the American Lung Association. 

Key Findings of the Report

• Preliminary estimates based on satellite-derived data suggest that as many as 300 of the 2,700 counties in the U.S. with incomplete or no monitoring data for annual levels of PM2.5 in the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 had estimated levels of pollution high enough that they might have earned a failing grade in the “State of the Air” report.  
• The report highlights six unmonitored counties as examples where satellite data indicates potentially concerning levels of particle pollution: Collin, Texas; Forsyth, Georgia; Marion, Oregon; Mohave, Arizona; St. Charles, Missouri; and St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. 
  • These six counties provide only a snapshot. Air quality data from satellites and improved modeling could help uncover other communities with high particle pollution.
• Satellite-derived data help provide a more comprehensive approach to air quality monitoring by extending coverage over a wider landscape, revealing hotspots, pollution patterns and trends that can give millions of people in the U.S. greater insight into their air quality.
• Use of satellite-derived data is not intended to replace the well-established “ground truth” of regulatory monitors, which provide the accurate, localized data needed for compliance with air quality standards and public health protections. 

This report focuses on fine particle pollution, which is a mix of tiny solid and liquid particles that are in the air we breathe and are 1/30th the diameter of a strand of human hair or smaller. Particle pollution comes from wildfires, wood-burning stoves, power plants, gasoline- and diesel-engines in cars and trucks, and other sources. These microscopic particles can trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, can cause lung cancer and can even be deadly. According to the 2024 “State of the Air” report, 65 million people lived in monitored counties that experienced unhealthy spikes in particle pollution, the highest number in 14 years.

"Something in the Air: Bridging the Air Quality Data Gap with Satellite Technology” calls for various actions from EPA, states and individuals, including:

• EPA and states must fully implement the updated annual PM2.5 standard.
• Because health-protective air quality standards are the basis for both cleanup and for communities’ understanding of local air quality, EPA must also set stronger science-based standards for all major air pollutants, including ozone and NO2. 
• States should explore the use of satellite technology to supplement monitoring and modeling when developing State Implementation Plans for PM2.5 that ensure clean-up plans maximize benefits for health, particularly in environmental justice communities.
• States should embrace the opportunity to integrate supplemental data sources into non-regulatory air quality advisory and alert systems for public health protection.
• Individuals should use resources such as the EPA’s AirNow website (airnow.gov) to stay current on air quality conditions in their area that might affect their health. 
• Individuals can become advocates in support of local and national policies that aim to improve air quality and reduce pollution by joining the American Lung Association’s Lung Action Network.

Read the full report at Lung.org/something-in-the-air.

The analysis of satellite-derived data was conducted by Dr. Tracey Holloway, Ms. Lizzy Kysela, and other members of the Holloway Group at the University of Wisconsin—Madison’s Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE).