Air Quality Data
Chicago's Air Quality (including PurpleAir data)
The Environmental Law and Policy Center's Air Quality Chicago Project
Air quality in Chicago neighborhoods: maps that show the monitored PM2.5 levels
2022 PM2.5 concentrations for the Chicago area (retrieved from the PurpleAir website by Alyssa Peer )
EPA Data and Tools
EPA Outdoor Air Quality Data
The following instructions show how we download PM2.5 data from the U.S. EPA's Air Data website (which includes air quality data collected at outdoor monitors across the U.S.).
Method 1 (download data for all the sites in the U.S.):
Go to the Pre-Generated Data Files. Then, click "Table of Daily and Daily Summary Data". Remember to scroll down the page until you see "Particulates".
Choose the column "PM2.5 FRM/FEM Mass (88101)". FRM represents Federal Reference Method, and FEM is Federal Equivalent Method. Mass means the PM2.5 values are reported in mass concentrations, i.e., micrograms per cubic meter. Select the year of interest (e.g, 2021), and download the zip file for this year (e.g., daily_88101_2021.zip). Unzip the zip file, and you will get a .csv file (e.g. daily_88101_2021.csv). This .csv file contains all the daily concentrations of PM2.5 observed by all the monitors in all states of the U.S. You can write a R code to extract the data for Edgewater and for Hegewisch using latitude and longitude ranges. Repeat this step for another year of interest. Save the extracted data in new data files for the next analysis step.
If interested in analyzing the diurnal changes of PM2.5, go back to the Pre-Generated Data Files. Then, click "Table of Hourly Data". Do the same as describe in Step 2 to extract hourly data for Edgewater and Hegewisch.
Method 2 (download data for the sites of interest)
Click Download Daily Data.
Under "1. Pollutant", choose "PM2.5" as the pollutant.
Under "2. Year", choose the year, e.g., 2021.
Under "3. Geographic Area", choose EITHER "Chicago-Naporville-Elgin" OR "IL- Cook County".
Under "4. Monitor sites", select "all sites".
Method 3 (make plots first and downloads data next).
At the Air Data site, under Data Viz Tools, click "Concentration Plot".
Under "1. Pollutant", choose "PM2.5".
Under "2. Period", choose from when to when. E.g., choose "2020" to "2020", you will get a plot of daily PM 2.5 concentrations at each site in 2020. You can also choose 2010 to 2020, and you will get a plot of daily PM2.5 concentrations from 2010 to 2020. The longer period you choose, the longer it takes for the EPA's system to process and make the plots.
Under "3. Geographic Area", choose EITHER "Chicago-Naporville-Elgin" OR "IL- Cook County".
Under "4. Monitor sites", select "all sites".
After the plots are made, remember to scroll down the page till you reach the bottom of the page. There is a plot for each PM2.5 monitoring site in the Chicago area. At the bottom of the page, you will see a line that allows you to download all the data for these plots in CSV (spreadsheets).
EPA's Air Sensor Tool Box
This website provides the latest science on the performance, operation and use of air sensors that are low-cost, portable, and easier to operate than regulatory-grade monitors. Go to the website.
EPA's EJScreen Tool
EJScreen stands for Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping. EPA has developed this mapping and screening tool based on nationally consistent data and an approach that combines environmental and demographic indicators in maps and reports. Go to the website.
EPA's Fire and Smoke Map
The Fire and Smoke Map is an interactive map displaying information on PM2.5 from smoke and other sources, as well as information on fires, smoke plume locations. Go to the website.
National Emission Inventory Data
National Emission Inventory data are provided by the U.S. EPA every 3 years from 2008 to 2020, including the emissions of primary PM2.5. Go to the website.
NOAA Data and Tools
NOAA Hazard Mapping System (HMS) Fire and Smoke Product.
NOAA created an interactive web-based GIS to display satellite data of fire detects in near-real time.HMS uses visible imagery from satellites to generate smoke plumes associated with fires. Go to the website of HMS.
Go directly to the map of latest HMS analysis.
NASA Data and Tools
NASA Open Science 101
NASA's Transform to Open Science (TOPS) initiative is designed to transform agencies, organizations, and communities to an inclusive culture of open science. The open science curriculum will introduce those beginning their open science journey to important definitions, tools, and resources; and provide participants at all levels recommendations on best practices.
NASA Worldview
NASA Worldview is a free online visualization tool for learners to use satellite data. It has an interactive interface for browsing full-resolution, global, daily satellite images.
How to get start with using NASA Worldview (A tutorial video)
NASA Scientific Visualization Studio
The Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) works closely with scientists in the creation of visualizations, animations, and images in order to promote a greater understanding of Earth and Space Science research activities at NASA and within the academic research community supported by NASA.
All the visualizations and multimedia products are free to download! Please note that this is not an all-inclusive repository of NASA images and movies. Go to the website.
NASA Data Portal
This data portal is NASA's clearinghouse site for open-data provided to the public. It contains tens of thousands of datasets.
The majority of dataset pages on data.nasa.gov only hold metadata for each dataset. It is common for the actual data to be held on other NASA archive sites. Data.nasa.gov will have the metadata and links to the data as it exists in those many other locations.
NASA Air Quality Data Pathfinder
This NASA Data Pathfinder guides you through selecting datasets, as well as visualizing and analyzing data. It helps you address the following research interests:
Monitoring the movement of wildfire smoke and dust plumes.
Tracking the path of ash from volcanic eruptions.
Identifying concentrations of air pollutants (e.g., NO2, SO2) near cities, suburbs, and major transportation systems.
Understanding how concentraitons of air pollutants change over time.
Data Repository for CARE students (this folder requires the students to log in using Loyola ID).