Welcome to this ASAQ seminar!

Air pollution is an emerging crisis in most developing nations and this is due to poor emissions and pollution controls. African countries, especially those close to the Sahara desert are among the most exposed and bear the highest cost. Atmospheric pollution in the region, is progressively being documented and shows lack of data and increasing interest from the scientific community and governments as well. Low-cost sensors have demonstrated the capability to detect polluted areas but they fail to produce reliable and accurate data. On the other hand, satellite derived data are being made available to the public, but they are still not popularized in the African context. 

This online seminar organized from 25 to 27 November 2024, as part of the activities of the African Society for Air Quality (ASAQ) aims to bring together experts on various aspects of air quality data analytics. The main objective of the seminar is to provide a holistic introduction to atmospheric pollution, weather and climate analytics. This includes sensing instruments and techniques (satellite, low-cost sensors, reference monitors, etc.), data analysis and visualization, and data assimilation and model evaluation. Participants will discover how advanced techniques impact our characterization of atmospheric pollution, weather and climate. They will learn the fundamentals of Data Science and the applications of Machine Learning across the main stages of numerical atmospheric pollution, weather and climate predictions. Throughout the seminar, participants will interact with leading experts across the communities of Earth system sciences, high-performance computing and Machine Learning. 

By the end, participants will have a sound understanding of the capabilities of Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing in air quality monitoring, weather and climate. 

The seminar is targeted to students, researchers, and professionals interested in furthering their knowledge of air quality monitoring, modelling and forecasting and developing their skills in data handling. 

 Main topics of the seminar include the following:

• Data Generation, Storage and Display using Different Techniques and Instruments,
• Data Analysis and Visualization with Various Tools,
• Mathematics, Statistics and Machine Learning,
• Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS).

All those who wish to present their work on one of the above topics are requested to submit an abstract of less than 150 words. 

 Participation to the seminar is totally free of charge.

 For any inquiries or questions, please contact Dr. Bertrand Tchanche (bertrand.tchanche[@]uadb.edu.sn).