![]() ![]() “That really gives us a great deal of confidence that our TRAX sensors are actually performing really well compared to regulatory sensors and can be used for health studies, policy and so on,” Mendoza says. Comparing the mobile and stationary readings, Mendoza says, showed 96% accuracy. The experiment involved a stationary particulate matter sensor placed about 10 feet (3 m) from the rail line that would take readings whenever the TRAX trains were within 500 feet (150 m) of the sensors. It also assuages any concerns that the air turbulence caused by the moving train might skew the readings. This is an important step in a pioneering project such as this, and serves along with quality assurance and quality control protocols as a certificate on the archived data now being made available to other researchers. The other major development in the TRAX Observation Project is the validation of the data coming from the mobile sensors. “We can now examine in our basin an exchange of air masses.” “That’s actually really critical because we sometimes have very different meteorological phenomenon going on between the two valleys,” Mendoza says. “Since elevation is such a key part of the air quality and understanding the depth of the inversion on different days, under different conditions,” he says, “it’s going to be a really important piece of the dataset for us.”Įxtending into the south valley also allows researchers to learn more about how air masses move back and forth between Salt Lake and Utah counties, through the narrow Point of the Mountain passage. “There’s a lot of people down there.” The Blue Line also goes up and down in elevation, just as the Red Line does as it ascends from downtown Salt Lake City to the U campus. “That’s a really important area of the valley,” Mitchell says. ![]() With an additional sensor on the Blue Line, however, air quality measurements now extend into the Salt Lake Valley’s southeastern quadrant. These two lines travel through downtown Salt Lake City, the central I-15 corridor and the valley’s west side. Up until November 2019, U sensors measuring ozone and particulate matter were installed only on the Red and Green Line trains, because both lines used the same train cars. UTA’s TRAX system consists of three light rail lines: red, green and blue. What’s new: Blue Line and data validation In a new study published in Urban Science, researchers including Daniel Mendoza and Logan Mitchell report the latest from the TRAX Observation Project, including data validation studies that bolster the data’s value for other researchers and three case studies from recent events showcasing the abilities of the mobile air quality sensors. ![]() Now the study, once a passion project of U researchers, has become a state-funded long-term observatory, with an additional sensor on the Blue Line into Sandy and Draper and additional insights into the events that impact the Salt Lake Valley’s air, including summer fireworks and winter inversions. This article, originally published in February 26, 2020, was written by Paul Gabrielsen, Science Writer, University of Utah Communicationsįor more than five years, University of Utah air quality sensors have hitched rides on TRAX light rail trains, scanning air pollution along the train’s Red and Green Lines. ![]()
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