Documentation for Allegheny County's Air Quality Data (as published at data.wprdc.org)
The following tables define codes used in the
Hourly Air Quality Data table. The parameter field also appears in the Daily AQI Data. (The `parameter` definitions below are also backwards-compatible with the old-format Daily Air Quality Data and Hourly Air Quality Data tables.)
Descriptions of the measured parameters (parameter)
| parameter | description |
|---|---|
| AMBTEMP | Ambient Temperature DegC |
| BAMRAW | BAM Analog Input |
| BCSTAT | Status of the Aethalometer: .0 – Good, .0 R – Good & Tape Advanced, Any other number – Bad |
| BLACK CARBON | Black Carbon absorption of ultraviolet radiation at a wavelength of 880 nm |
| BP | Barometric Pressure |
| BP2 | Barometric Pressure |
| CO | Carbon Monoxide |
| DT_DZ | Delta-T, 10m-2m |
| FRIDGE | Fridge Temperature DegC |
| H2S | Hydrogen Sulfide |
| H2S_SO2 | H2S plus SO2 |
| INT_T | Internal Temperature of the shelter or room where the monitors are located |
| MAXWS | Maximum Instantaneous Wind Speed |
| NO | Nitric Oxide |
| NO2 | Nitrogen Dioxide |
| NOX | Nitrogen Oxides |
| NOY | Total Reactive Nitrogen |
| NOYDIF | Total Reactive Nitrogen excluding Nitric Oxide (i.e. NOY – NO) |
| OUT_RH | Outside Relative Humidity |
| OUT_T | Outside Temperature |
| OZONE | Ozone computed by Standard Averaging |
| OZONE2 | Ozone computed by an Alternate Averaging Method |
| OZONE_B | Ozone computed by Standard Averaging - Second Analyzer for Quality Assurance |
| PER_F | Filter Life Used |
| PER_F2 | Filter Life Used |
| PM10 | Particulate Matter up to 10 micrometers in size; measured by a Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance |
| PM10A | Raw Data collected by a Beta Attenuation Monitor |
| PM10B | Particulate Matter up to 10 micrometers in size; measured by a Beta Attenuation Monitor |
| PM10RAW | Raw Data collected by a Beta Attenuation Monitor |
| PM10_640 | Particulate Matter up to 10 micrometers in size; measured by a T640X Monitor |
| PM10_FL | Filter Life Used |
| PM25 | Particulate Matter up to 2.5 micrometers in size; measured by a Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance |
| PM25(2) | Particulate Matter up to 2.5 micrometers in size; measured by a Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance; corrected seasonally to better correlate with the Federal Reference Method |
| PM25B | Particulate Matter up to 2.5 micrometers in size; measured by a Beta Attenuation Monitor |
| PM25RAW | Raw Data collected by a Beta Attenuation Monitor |
| PM25T | Particulate Matter up to 2.5 micrometers in size; measured by a Beta Attenuation Monitor |
| PM25_640 | Particulate Matter up to 2.5 micrometers in size; measured by a T640X Monitor |
| PM25_FL | Filter Life Used |
| PMCOARSE | Particulate Matter up to 10 micrometers in size, excluding Particulate Matter less than 2.5 micrometrs in size |
| Peak Wind Gust | Maximum Instantaneous Wind Speed |
| RAINFALL | Rainfall and Snow Melt (i.e. precipitation) |
| RH% | Relative Humidity |
| RWD | (Resultant Wind Direction) Vector Wind Direction |
| RWS | (Resultant Wind Speed) Vector Wind Speed |
| SIGTHETA | (Sigma Theta) Standard Deviation of the Wind Direction |
| SO2 | Sulfur Dioxide |
| SO2PPM | Sulfur Dioxide measured in ppm |
| SOLARRAD | Solar Radiation |
| SONICWD | Scalar Wind Direction |
| SONICWS | Scalar Wind Speed |
| T1AT2M | Ambient Temperature DegC at 2 meters above ground level |
| T2AT10M | Ambient Temperature DegC at 10 meters above ground level |
| TAPE COUNT | Increment of Tape used by the Aethalometer |
| UVPM | Organic Carbon absorption of ultraviolet radiation at a wavelength of 370 nm |
| UV_RAD | UV Component of Solar Radiation |
| WNDR | Scalar Wind Direction |
| WNSP | Scalar Wind Speed |
Definitions of the flag codes used in the highest_flag field
| flag | type | description | source_of_flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| < | Average | Insufficient data for valid average | Automatically applied by logger if less than 75% or defined % valid in Validation Settings. |
| > | Average | Sufficient data for valid average, but some data missing | Automatically applied by logger if > 75% (or user-defined threshold) but < 100% of readings valid. |
| P | Instantaneous | Power Failure | Power failure experienced (invalidates one base average). |
| D | Instantaneous | Channel Offline | Channel disabled via user interface (Logger Toolbox in 8872). |
| T | Instantaneous | Out Of Control due to bad Cal | Normally a CEM feature, if cal drift > OOC limit set in Calibration program, then channel invalid until a good cal is passed. |
| F | Instantaneous | Boiler Offline (CEM) | Normally CEM feature, boiler is considered offline based on status input pattern configured in Validation settings. |
| B | Instantaneous | Bad Instrument Stations | Instrument is considered offline based on configured status input pattern. Will also appear during periods of Modbus or RS-232 communication "dropouts" between logger and instrument. |
| C | Instantaneous | Instrument in Calibration | Logger running calibration program affecting this instrument/channel. |
| M | Instantaneous | Instrument in Maintenance | Channel disabled via user interface (Logger Toolbox in 8872) or via configured status input. |
| O | Instantaneous | Analog Overrange | Single reading > full scale of analog range, invalidates the base average. |
| U | Instantaneous | Analog Underrange | Single reading < negative end of full scale of analog range, invalidates the base average. |
| A | Instantaneous | Math Error | Error executing math pack channel equation, most commonly divide by zero. |
| + | Instantaneous | Maximum Reading Error | Reading > configured "Maximum Reading", invalidates the base average. |
| - | Instantaneous | Minimum Reading Error | Reading < configured "Minimum Reading", invalidates the base average. |
| R | Instantaneous | Rate of Change Error | Reading changed from one reading to another > the configured rate of change limit. |
| H | Average | High High Limit Exceeded | Average (e.g., 1m, 1h) value > configured limit. |
| L | Average | Low Low Limit Exceeded | Average (e.g., 1m, 1h) value < configured limit. |
| h | Average | High Limit Exceeded | Average (e.g., 1m, 1h) value > configured limit. |
| l | Average | Low Limit Exceeded | Average (e.g., 1m, 1h) value < configured limit. |
| J | Average | High High Rate of Change | Change from previous average > set limit. |
| j | Average | High Rate of Change | Change from previous average > set limit. |
| V | Instantaneous | Digital Information #1 | Configured status input pattern detected. |
| W | Instantaneous | Digital Information #2 | Configured status input pattern detected. |
| X | Instantaneous | Digital Information #3 | Configured status input pattern detected. |
| Y | Instantaneous | Digital Information #4 | Configured status input pattern detected. |
| Z | Instantaneous | Digital Information #5 | Configured status input pattern detected. |
| f | Average | Floor limit exceeded | Average < configured Floor Limit, value changed to floor value. |
| c | Average | Ceiling limit exceeded | Average > configured Ceiling Limit, value changed to ceiling value. |
| I | Average | Invalidated by Edit | Manually applied by Data Analyst to Invalidate Data. |
| E | Average | Edited Data | Automatocally applied by AirVision softwre if the Data Analyst edits the value. |
| ? | Average | Suspect Data | Manually applied by Data Analyst to indicate suspect data. |