Maven AQI Calculator

Foreword

All methods, constraints use in this project follows US EPA AQI Calculation Method (which includes breakpoint table and calculation formulas) . Since each country issues different AQI calculation methods, using this package might be inappropriate, consider your usage.

This project is intended to community target for free use. The author is not associated with USA government, nor United States Environmental Protection Agency (a.k.a US EPA)

Highlights

• Calculate AQI from raw concentration
• The result from calculation includes Air Quality Index, AQI Category, General Message, Specific Health Effects Statements for the pollutant and the corresponding guidance message.
• Support Nowcast Concentration

Support the following pollutants

Pollutant	Scientific name	Unit of Measurement	Input Code Usage	Regular Calculation Support	Nowcast Support	Health Effects Statements	Guidance Message
PM10	10 μm Particle Pollutant	μg/m3	PM10	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
PM2.5	2.5 μm Particle Pollutant	μg/m3	PM2.5	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
O3	Ozone	ppb	O3	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
CO	Carbon Monoxide	ppb	CO	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️
SO2	Sulfur Dioxide	ppb	SO2	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️
NO2	Nitrogen Dioxide	ppb	NO2	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️

Installation

Using Maven Dependency

<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.github.thanglequoc/aqi-calculator -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.github.thanglequoc</groupId>
    <artifactId>aqi-calculator</artifactId>
    <version>1.2.2</version>
</dependency>

Or for other stuff like Gradle, SBT, Ivy,.. you may find it on Maven Central Repository

Using Plug-n-play jar file:

Grab the target jar in target-jar folder and add the jar to your project.

Quick Usage

For Regular AQI Calculation

Using old method (it only give you plain AQI, and nothing more):

@Obsoleted: getAQIforPollutant is obsoleted and will be removed in the near future. Consider using AQIResult object insteads

AQICalculator calculator = AQICalculator.getAQICalculatorInstance();
calculator.getAQIforPollutant("PM10", 134.12);

90

Using AQIResult Object (new replacement, AQI now comes in more detail 💪 ):

AQICalculator calculator = AQICalculator.getAQICalculatorInstance();
AQIResult result = calculator.getAQI("PM10", 99);

Now AQIResult store all the related information that you might need, query them by the following methods

• Get the Air Quality Index (AQI)

result.getAqi();

73

• Get the AQI Category

result.getCategory();

Moderate

• Get the general message of the AQI Category

result.getGeneralMessage();

Unusually sensitive people should consider reducing prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion

• Get the health effects statement for the pollutant with that level

result.getHealthEffectsStatement();

Respiratory symptoms possible in unusually sensitive individuals; possible aggravation of heart or lung disease in people with cardiopulmonary disease and older adults

• Get the guidance message for the pollutant with that level

result.getGuidanceStatement();

Unusually sensitive people should consider reducing prolonged or heavy exertion

For Nowcast AQI Calculation

/* Example Data for Nowcast PM10 12h period - 64, 63, 72, 77, 65, 61, 70, 71, 64, 57, 58, 64 */
AQICalculator calculator = AQICalculator.getAQICalculatorInstance();

double[] data = { 64, 63, 72, 77, 65, 61, 70, 71, 64, 57, 58, 64 };`
AQIResult result = calculator.getNowcastAQI("PM10", data);

result.getAqi();

57

The first value in the array is the avg value in the current hour, and the upcoming element in the array represent one step hour before current hour.

If the hour doesn't have data, replace missing data in the hour with -1

Example Nowcast Dataset for PM10: (have some missing data in hour)

Hour	Avg Concentration
14	64 ppb
13	63 ppb
12	----
11	77 ppb
10	65 ppb
9	----
8	70 ppb
7	71 ppb
6	----
5	57 ppb
4	58 ppb
3	64 ppb

Presume that you want to calculate Nowcast AQI for PM10 at 14, the data array should be

double[] data = { 64, 63, -1, 77, 65, -1, 70, 71, -1, 57, 58, 64 };`
AQIResult result = calculator.getNowcastAQI("PM10", data);
result.getAqi();

56

AQI Calculation Turtorial

US EPA AQI Breakpoint

Image from Wikipedia

Calculation Formula

The AQI is the highest value calculated for each pollutant as follows:

1. Identify the highest concentration among all of the monitors within each reporting area and truncate as follows:

2. Using US EPA AQI Breakpoint, find the two breakpoints that contain the concentration.
3. Using AQI Equation , calculate the index.
4. Round the index to the nearest integer.  

Nowcast for PM and Ozone

The concentration of PM10, PM2.5 is so dynamic since wind can completely clean the air in less than 30 minutes, or a wildfire can raise the concentration with a very fast rate in an hour. So Nowcast is introduced, it mainly focus on detect the average changing of the period hour and perform counter balancing.

Nowcast Rules

Handling Missing data

To compute a valid NowCast, you must have at least two of the most recent 3 hours

Extra Documents and Tools that you might needs

Air Now AQI Calculator: Concentration to AQI

Air Now Nowcast Calculator

Daily and Hourly AQI - PM2.5 and PM10

Daily and Hourly AQI - PM2.5 and PM10

US EPA AQI Brochure

US EPA AQI Technical Assistance Document

US EPA Nowcast Overview

Demonstration images for nowcast in this tutorial are from US EPA Nowcast Overview document