The challenge
ICIMOD runs air quality monitoring systems for three audiences: the wider Hindu Kush Himalaya region, the Government of Nepal and Bangladesh. Each needed ground station observations, satellite products and atmospheric model outputs available together and kept current, in a form government users and scientists could use. Several real-time ground stations (including Khumaltar in Nepal, and Thimphu and CST in Bhutan) also needed live visualisation.
Approach
I designed, developed and deployed the air quality database. I wrote automation scripts to ingest and process ground observations, satellite products and model outputs, with QA/QC built into the ingestion.
I turned scientific and user needs into dashboard features, data pipelines, database designs and visualisation workflows. Large NetCDF, HDF and raster time-series datasets were processed in Python, and gridded layers were served through THREDDS Data Server and GeoServer.
I managed the Linux application servers behind the production dashboards to keep them running reliably. I also coordinated with ICIMOD scientists, government users, the SERVIR Science Coordination Office and NASA Applied Sciences teams on remote sensing products, Git workflows, workshops and training.
What was delivered
- Air Quality Monitoring System for the HKH region
- Air Quality Monitoring System for the Government of Nepal
- Air Quality Monitoring System for Bangladesh
- Real-time ground observation visualisations for the Khumaltar, Thimphu and CST Bhutan stations
- Air quality database, designed, deployed and operationalised
- Automation scripts for data ingestion, processing and QA/QC
- Technical documentation and stakeholder demonstrations of the HKH Air Quality Dashboard
Stack
- Python
- PostgreSQL
- Tethys Platform
- THREDDS Data Server
- GeoServer
- Apache Tomcat
- Google Earth Engine
- Linux
- Git
Links
- Nepal air quality dashboard (opens in new tab)
- Bangladesh air quality dashboard (opens in new tab)
- Khumaltar station display (opens in new tab)
- Thimphu station display (opens in new tab)
- CST Bhutan station display (opens in new tab)
External systems are run by their organisations; availability may change.
Where it was used
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