Not an official air-quality source. Nothing here is AQI, health advice, or an episode declaration. For advisories, see AirNow, BAAQMD, or EPA.

Earth observation · evidence dashboard

Bay Area Air Quality Episode Finder

Satellite evidence for examining unusual daily tropospheric NO₂ column patterns, with coverage, historical context, and limitations shown alongside each result.

About
InstrumentSentinel-5P TROPOMI
Productpending
Regionpending
Latest represented datepending
Last included datepending
Backendchecking…

Map

Basemap only. Boundary and data layers load from the backend.

Anomaly layer: waiting for the first analysis.

Anomaly legend renders from backend visualization metadata when the layer loads.

About this layer

Colors show the selected day's Sentinel-5P tropospheric NO₂ column anomaly. At each pixel, the anomaly is the selected day's value minus the median of valid daily observations from the same calendar month over the previous three years. The layer is smoothed for display and does not represent ground-level concentration or AQI.

Readouts

Waiting for the first analysis

Regional mean column

TROPOMI → L3 grid → daily composite → area-weighted mean

Signed anomaly

target mean − same-month median, prior 3 years

Percentile in history

share of historical days at or below target

Valid-area coverage

valid pixel area ÷ region area, for the date

Observation detail

Selected local date
Observation status
Source assets (footprint)
Distinct products
Distinct orbits
Product quality
Projection compatibility
Baseline status
Historical median
Historical sample count
Requested prior years
Contributing prior years

Footprint intersection is not contribution: a source asset can intersect the region without supplying any valid pixel. Baseline figures are a rolling comparison against recent same-month history, not a homogeneous long-term trend.

What this prototype does not yet assess

This prototype does not classify air-quality episodes or evaluate persistence, ground-monitor measurements, or meteorological conditions.

About

Bay Area Air Quality Episode Finder grew from an undergraduate data science project built with R and Google Earth Engine. The current web application explores daily Sentinel-5P tropospheric NO₂ column anomalies across the Bay Area, with historical comparison and data coverage for each selected date.

© 2026 Eduardo Perez

Independent project. Not affiliated with or endorsed by BAAQMD, EPA, Google, Copernicus, or OpenStreetMap.

Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.