Purpose
This is the inaugural quarterly BSEC research summary. The purpose of these updates is to provide digestible and timely research updates. The updates are organized by research “theme,” consistent with the way in which the BSEC research team is structured. We will typically report on activities of the previous three months, though this initial report may include some updates from previous quarters.
Research Advances
Collecting new data has been our key research focus of the past three months. The new data come from different areas of the project. Several of these efforts included work with community groups to collect these data, including projects by the vegetation and soils and atmospheric dynamics teams.
Air quality. New air quality data we collected include high-precision air measurements that have identified methane leaks, measured air pollution associated with wildfire smoke, and generated datasets needed to map diverse air pollution constituents at fine resolution across the city.
Vegetation and soils. The vegetation and soils team has performed extensive soil sampling related to hydrology and fertility. This team worked with communities to collect soils for heavy metals analysis.
Atmospheric dynamics. The atmospheric dynamics group has partnered with communities to expand the network of surface weather stations to 40 in total, with a focus on Black Butterfly neighborhoods, has established a flux tower in Clifton Park to measure energy, water, and carbon fluxes in this large urban park, and has established a vertically-pointing LiDAR at the Morgan State facility in Clifton Park to obtain detailed measurements of the atmospheric boundary layer up to several kilometers height. BSEC researchers have also participated in balloon atmospheric sounding launches from this Morgan State site. The water quality team continues to monitor conditions in several streams in and around Baltimore and is working towards stormwater monitoring sites in the urban core.
Buildings and streetscape. The Buildings & Energy theme team, meanwhile, has worked with BGE to obtain detailed home energy use data that can be paired with our field measurements to understand energy demand and carbon fluxes from the buildings in different neighborhoods across Baltimore. A related effort collected new data on buildings and infrastructure include street-level It has also included LiDAR all mapping of streetscapes across the city, providing data that can be used to create 3D representations to map the distribution and type of vacant lots, street and sidewalk infrastructure, building type, and other defining characteristics of the urban landscape that will be useful when we model climate later.
Health. The Health theme team has integrated high resolution heat and air quality data to medical records from the Johns Hopkins Hospital System in order to quantify relationships between heat, pollution, and asthma exacerbation at neighborhood scale.
As these datasets are collected, quality-checked, and converted to accessible formats, we are turning to the question of how they can best be shared with community partners. To this end, we are working on several prototype dashboards to visualize and disseminate data. Effective data sharing and models of co-ownership of BSEC data products will be a focus in coming months. Similarly, ongoing modeling and data analysis efforts have begun to yield usable results, and we will be consulting with the EPSC on the best ways to communicate and share these research products. We appreciate feedback on the best way to engage the EPSC as we disseminate observational data and model predictions.
Education and Outreach
Another way in which BSEC research is supporting community science goals is by integrating BSEC science to existing education and outreach programs. This was another key focus area in the summer of 2024. As described in the Community Engagement theme team activity report, a number of educational programs were implemented this summer, including work with Liberty Rec & Tec, Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm, and Liberty Grace Church. A pilot YouthWorks science program was also initiated, in collaboration with the Baltimore Climate Resilience Coalition and EPSC member Ballington Kinlock. All educational programs from this past summer are viewed as first efforts that we will refine for future use, in collaboration with community partners.
Equitable Pathways to Address Extreme Heat
Finally, it need not be said that this was a hot summer in Baltimore. BSEC researchers worked to measure neighborhood-scale distribution of extreme heat conditions through the BSEC weather station network, bicycle-based heat surveys of East Baltimore and midtown, and targeted deployment of low-cost sensors. Much work was also done behind the scenes to get the institutional approvals required to hold targeted extreme heat focus groups in support of the BSEC Equitable Pathways process. These focus groups will commence later this month, with the intent of generating co-produced potential equitable pathways for heat mitigation. These potential pathways can, in turn, inform heat mitigation strategies that meet multiple climate resilience objectives held by different groups across the city.