Air Quality for Environmental Assessment and Fire Science

Catalog description

Students will learn about assessment of air quality and will examine specific air pollutant problems induced by wildfire. The course will begin with a review of the criteria air pollutants, including sources, chemistry, transport, and dispersion. The majority of the course will focus on environmental assessment of the criteria pollutants. Units will include requirements of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), monitoring methods and their biases, air pollution monitoring networks, compliance, permitting, and air pollution effects on health, ecology, climate, and equity. Throughout the semester, we will examine these topics through cases pertaining to wildfires.