RCUK-SEA - High Density Air Quality Monitoring in the Klang Valley (Malaysia) - A New High Resolution Observational Capability.

South East (SE) Asia is one of the most densely populated regions in the world with widespread rapid industrialisation and population growth (with an urban shift). In air quality (AQ) terms, pollutant emissions and exposed populations are both increasing. In addition, regional land use change, deforestation and biomass burning are all occurring within an atmospherically turbulent and energetic region.

AQ monitoring is needed on a spectrum of scales ranging from street to regional if distributions and levels are to be understood and modelled effectively and policy most efficiently designed and implemented. The emergence of new low-cost miniaturised sensor technologies in the environmental sciences has led to a huge increase in both available data and a potential for collecting new data. AQ observational studies can therefore be undertaken at higher resolutions and be coupled with numerical models resolving at finer scales.

Existing AQ monitoring at national levels is undertaken using networks of static pollution monitoring sites which due to their cost, size and logistical requirements tend to be relatively sparse. The Greater Klang Valley (GKV) area includes the city of Kuala Lumpur (KL) as well as the surrounding municipal areas. It has a population of approximately 7 million and contains significant industrial activity as well as a number of ground, sea and air transport hubs including one major international airport.

An emerging and important opportunity in the UK and globally is how to merge emerging low-cost sensing technologies with existing high resolution networks. Studies are needed to establish the scales (time and space) of measurements needed to fundamentally understand the distributions of pollutants in and around urban areas in the context of the Energy-Food-Environment nexus. Fine scale distributions of pollutants are not well studied in the horizontal with even larger uncertainties in the vertical. As new sensor technologies are deployed, models need to adapt to use high resolution multi capability sensing to optimise the information content derived from adding high density network data.

KL is an established regional megacity with a regional emissions footprint and its successful economic and growth pattern is being replicated across SE Asia. Understanding AQ distribution in KL and defining best practice for AQ monitoring and modelling in KL will have broad implications across SE Asia. The lessons learnt will be valuable in applying these technologies and methodologies across SE Asia which has shown to be routinely affected by episodes of very poor air quality as well as in the UK and developing economies.

This project will use low-cost miniaturised sensors to augment and expand existing relatively sparse monitoring networks. They will be deployed in a case study in Malaysia, specifically in KL and the surrounding GKV area. The results will be analysed using dispersion modelling tools widely used by regulatory bodies.

The direct beneficiaries of this research will potentially be the current and future residents of the Greater Klang Valley (GKV), peninsular Malaysia and regional mega-cities and related urban conurbations in the wider SE Asian region. Population centers in Malaysia are regularly and seasonally exposed to poor air quality from a range of sources including the agricultural and transport sectors. Regional haze episodes are seasonal, persistent and considered an issue of regional importance. The development and growth of coastal mega-cities such as KL is a function of economic growth across the region and the pattern of development is in many cases very similar to that of KL and the GKV making this study potentially applicable to a number of cities and counties in SE Asia.

This work will significantly add to the knowledge base required for effective design of mitigation strategies and policies. Development of mitigation plans based on detailed monitoring and modeling capability has the potential to significantly impact quality of life for residents in the region both within these urban areas and beyond (as poor air quality is a trans-boundary issue). Proof of concept of the efficacy of low-cost networks in assessing outcomes associated from mitigation activities has the potential to minimize inefficiencies in regulatory planning. Designing targeted mitigation policies with the ability to observe positive impacts on the ground to gauge effectiveness would allow the most efficient use of resources for reduction of poor AQ episodes with the related positive impacts on health and well being. These policies could also have positive impacts on agricultural practices to help an economically important sector in the process of modernisation.

Methodologies for the effective integration of high density monitoring technologies to existing routine compliance monitoring have regional as well as global implications. Particularly in developing economies and areas of limited resources where implementing or adding monitoring capability based on traditional techniques is not feasible or possible. Additionally the use of high density monitoring in conjunction with existing dispersion modelling capability has the potential to be a significant tool in compliance monitoring and reporting regionally and globally. The use of dispersion modeling to couple low-cost sensing with existing relatively sparse monitoring has the potential to help develop smart networks for monitoring where resources can be used in a more targeted mode to improve returns and data representatives and quality. This is applicable across the region, in developed economies, as well as in developing and emerging economies globally.

The sensor and technology providers will benefit from the additional in-field data produced by this study in terms of sensor and instrument performance in the SE Asian economic region. Dispersion modeling tool developers will similarly benefit from this large scale in depth validation exercise of model outputs against detailed data products.
Demonstration of new monitoring capabilities will be of interest to regulatory bodies which are in many countries looking for efficient and cost effective ways of expanding and maintaining an appropriate level of monitoring for the high profile and high impact issue of declining air quality. In country bodies responsible for planning and control of environmental capital will potentially find this work of interest as the outcomes could impact on future development in the GKV and the wider SE Asian region.