Environment Canada Breathes Easier

SAS® Ensures Quality Data for Atmospheric Chemistry Studies

Few things are as important as the air we breathe. And since no one is immune to the effects of air pollution, it's important to understand air quality levels around the world. In Canada, the Air Quality Research Branch (AQRB) of Environment Canada counts on SAS to help measure and analyze trace gases in the atmosphere and to determine the impact of human activities on air quality.

"Our mandate is to provide the Canadian public with research results on the status and trends of air quality in Canada," explains Bob Vet, head of the Branch's Data Management and Quality Assurance Section.

Vet's group manages and archives air quality data from more than 40 sites throughout rural Canada, analyzes results and reports information to government, industry, academia, and public policymakers. Their research focuses on the chemistry of the atmosphere and how it changes over time. The group conducts research to better understand the interaction between atmospheric chemistry and the physical behavior of the atmosphere, including the transport, transformation and deposition of atmospheric pollutants.

And, according to Bill Sukloff, scientific software project leader with the AQRB, "We use SAS in all phases of the scientific information life cycle," from measurement and analysis of data to interpretation and information dissemination.

"Data and data analysis are the lifeblood of our organization," says Sukloff. "Our purpose is to manage the life cycle of the data, from data gathering and data analysis to establishing a new understanding of the status and trends in atmospheric composition and atmospheric processes. Then, ultimately, we turn that data into new knowledge that will benefit those concerned with human health and ecosystem health."

Measuring acid rain, transboundary pollution
Recent projects within the AQRB include measuring gases, particles and precipitation chemistry across Canada, reporting the data to scientific journals and compiling long-term results into large science assessments that detail long-term atmospheric changes. Vet's team is helping to write a new acid rain science assessment that will support upcoming federal-provincial agreements on sulfur dioxide emission from industrial sources.

Another important project at the AQRB involves measuring and tracking long-range atmospheric transport. This common phenomenon occurs worldwide as air pollutants travel thousands of miles, crossing borders and oceans, and move from one urban area to another.

In 1991, Canada and the United States signed an Air Quality Agreement to address transboundary pollution, which includes commitments to reduce the major pollutants that cause acid rain – sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Both countries are cooperating to assess the impacts of air pollution and transboundary pollution on human health, forest ecosystems and surface waters. According to Vet and Sukloff, SAS is important to these cooperative efforts in data analysis, modeling, monitoring and information sharing.

SAS aids data quality, data sharing
Sukloff and Vet also work closely with air quality and atmospheric chemistry agencies around the world, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the World Data Centre for Aerosols in Ispra, Italy, and NARSTO, a cooperative North American scientific research and assessment program.

Sukloff has used SAS to develop a data-sharing standard that makes it easy to exchange data with these agencies for joint research projects and international studies. "SAS is used extensively in the atmospheric chemistry research community and is a key to facilitating cooperative efforts," he says.

Additionally, Sukloff has built two SAS-based systems – The Research Data Management and Quality Control System (RDMQ^TM) and the National Atmospheric Chemistry Database and Analysis System (NAtChem) – that quality control, analyze and manage atmospheric chemistry data. RDMQ^TM performs routine quality control and data management tasks in a systematic, well-documented and timely manner. NAtChem stores a wide range of atmospheric chemistry measurements for easy access and analysis by scientists throughout the organization.

Using SAS since 1985
Overall, Sukloff says, "SAS has an excellent reputation in the scientific community." He and his fellow AQRB scientists have been using SAS for scientific analyses and reporting for nearly 20 years. During that time, they have transitioned their data from an IBM Mainframe to an HP UNIX server, and recently to a Windows 2000 server.

Back in 1985, when they began using SAS at AQRB, data volumes were increasing at a tremendous rate, and SAS provided a scalable solution to manipulate, visualize and analyze the data. According to Sukloff, the benefits of SAS have continued to increase since then.

He praises the most recent version of SAS for its high-level functions for data manipulation, and its new graphic capabilities – especially the PDF driver in the output delivery system. But most important, Sukloff says, SAS provides the analytical capabilities needed for AQRB's scientific studies and offers complete confidence that the results are accurate on every level.

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