Tag: Air Quality Research Projects

Impacts on Air Quality During COVID-19

What impact did fewer cars on the road due to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, teleworking and social distancing have on Utah air quality? Logan Mitchell, a researcher at the University of Utah, took a look at the data from DEQ’s monitors to find out.

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Air Quality Researchers Hunt for PM2.5 Precursors

Researchers from DEQ, EPA, the University of Utah, Utah State University, and BYU joined forces for the Wasatch Front Ammonia and Chloride Observations (WaFACO) study. The study is looking for sources of ammonia on the Wasatch Front—a precursor to PM2.5.

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DEQ: Air Scientists Have Eyes in the Sky for PM2.5

By Donna Kemp Spangler It doesn’t take a scientist to know Utah has prolonged periods of bad air during the winter. But it does take a team of local and national scientific researchers to understand more fully why we have bad air. For years, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s air-quality scientists have been focused …

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The Best “Airheads” in Utah Work to Solve Utah’s Air Quality Challenges

By Donna Kemp Spangler You don’t have to be an air quality expert to know that Utah’s mountain-and-valley topography creates wintertime inversions and summertime smog. It’s a matter of atmospheric chemistry, meteorology, and source emissions that are a recipe for unhealthy air. As one air scientist is fond of saying, “What goes out your tailpipe …

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Air Quality: The Great Salt Lake Ozone Study

By Seth Arens Air pollution in Utah conjures up images of frosty January mornings, the “brown cloud” over the Wasatch Front, and days or weeks of sunless skies. High temperatures and unhealthy ozone pollution in last half of June 2015 reminded Utah residents that bad air pollution also threatens our health while we enjoy the …

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