HAQES_NA_PM25_BC_COUNTY: 3-Hourly Black Carbon Forecasts for U.S. Counties

HAQES provides 3-hourly ensemble mean surface PM2.5 Black Carbon concentration forecasts at the county level over the continental United States. The Hazardous Air Quality Ensemble System is a real-time forecast system for events like wildfires and dust storms, created by combining models from NASA, NOAA, and other agencies. The prototype was developed by George Mason University as part of the NASA Health Air Quality Applied Science Team.

Use Cases

• Modeling population exposure to hazardous air quality events based on the 3-hourly forecast resolution
• Analyzing spatial patterns of black carbon pollution based on county-level aggregation
• Validating and comparing air quality models based on the multi-agency ensemble approach
• Studying the impact of specific events like wildfires or dust storms based on the real-time forecast system

Strengths

• Data is derived from an ensemble of models from multiple authoritative agencies including NASA and NOAA
• Provides forecasts at a 3-hourly temporal resolution for real-time analysis
• Spatial aggregation at the county level facilitates public health and policy studies

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to its focus on the continental United States

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Ensemble forecast combining regional and global models from multiple agencies.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 01:44:56.671353; freshness should be verified

Geography

Continental United States (CONUS) at county level