Visualizing Environmental Information

EPA launches Your Air Quality AirNow website to visualize air quality conditions.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) is an index for reporting daily air quality. It tells you how clean or polluted               your outdoor air is, and what associated health effects might be               a concern for you. The AQI focuses on health effects you may experience               within a few hours or days after breathing polluted air. EPA calculates               the AQI for five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air               Act: ground-level ozone, particle pollution (also known as particulate               matter), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.               For each of these pollutants, EPA has established national air quality               standards to protect public health. For Information regarding indoor               air quality please visit the Indoor             Air Quality Web site.

Air Quality Index (AQI) also available in Keyhole Markup Language (KML) format. This allows for AIRNow data to be displayed in 3D viewers such as Google Earth.