The Hawaii Island Volcanic Smog Sensor Network (HI-Vog): Tracking Air Quality and Community Engagement near a Major Emissions Hotspot

Air quality on the Island of Hawaii (the Big Island) can be poor due to high emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) from Kilauea Volcano. The resulting volcanic smog (vog), a mixture of SO2 and fine particulate matter (PM), can have negative impacts on human health as well as agriculture, and consequently is a major concern of local communities. Because of the high variability of the volcanic plume, community members exposures to vog cannot be easily estimated. The region thus serves as a unique test case for the use and assessment of distributed air quality (AQ) networks based on portable low-cost sensors. This project entails the development and deployment of a state-of-the-art community-based AQ sensor network across Hawaii Island (HI-Vog), for the measurement of SO2 and PM levels with high spatial and temporal resolution. The network aims to provide improved measurements of air quality and vog exposures across the island, as well as to assess the utility of AQ sensor networks as community resources and as tools for atmospheric chemistry research.