KATOWICE, Poland & MADISON, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Understory, the weather network and analytics company, unveiled its real-time air quality and weather monitoring technology, Atmosphere, yesterday at the 9th annual Sustainable Innovation Forum (SIF), an affiliate event of COP24, the 24th Session of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Understory’s Atmosphere delivers hyperlocal insights to civic leaders to initiate and monitor air quality improvement strategies. It is currently live in Dallas, Texas, U.S., identifying high pollutant zones and prescribing actionable remediation steps for air quality improvement. Understory intends to expand Atmosphere to cities around the world throughout 2019.
A network of Understory’s hyperlocal sensors within an urban center uses a combination of weather and air quality data to understand pollutant sources. Atmosphere aggregates and analyzes the data from these sensors to present a clear and concise picture of the urban center’s atmosphere. It is able to pinpoint types and sources of the worst pollutants and forecast the onset of unhealthy levels of indicators, such as ozone and nitrous oxide, in real time. Civic leaders can then take specific actions, such as regulating traffic, enabling tolls and HOV lanes, and administering warnings, to reduce the impact of unhealthy pollutant levels on citizens.
“Without weather, air quality is only seen through a static lense. Marrying weather and air quality together in one network allows it to be seen as it truly is, incredibly dynamic. Accurate, real-time weather and air quality data allows us to understand a city’s air quality on a very granular level across time,” said Alex Kubicek, CEO, Understory. “By understanding where air quality has been, where it is, and where it’s going, we’re able to facilitate immediate modifications within a city’s operations to lessen the impact of detrimental changes in air quality on community members in economical ways.”
Air pollution reduction strategies in urban environments are impossible without affordable, accurate, real-time data on atmospheric conditions. Municipal leaders require fiscally feasible, economically advantageous, politically viable, and actionable insights to support meaningful changes toward better air quality. Understory provides accurate up-to-the minute data to address air quality so that actions can be taken to reduce pollution output most effectively.
“Understory’s innovative weather monitoring capacity could add a new dimension to air quality monitoring by helping pinpoint sources of air pollution,” said Millie Chu Baird, associate vice president for the Office of the Chief Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund. “When combined with data from fixed and mobile air quality sensors, Understory’s technology could provide greater insights and cost savings. EDF is excited to explore and possibly integrate it into our work to map air pollution in cities."
About Understory
Understory comprehensively assesses the critical impact of weather and atmospheric conditions on cities, communities, and businesses with ground-truth data. Understory’s foundational technology economically harnesses the power of hyperlocal air quality and weather data, analytics, mapping, and support in real time to drive strategic decisions and actionable policies for real, scalable environmental change. Deploying and operating rugged and maintenance-free weather and air quality sensor networks, Understory tells the story from under the clouds–delivering earth’s 24/7 health report. Understory’s technology has broad, cross-sector applications including insurance, agriculture, forecasting, risk mitigation, and pollution reduction. For more information, visit www.understoryweather.com.
