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Air is all around us and is ingrained in everyday life. Like many aspects of daily routine, its constant presence and state can be taken for granted and misunderstood. Air quality is a measure of how clean or polluted the air is and we use the Air Quality Index (AQI) to monitor our air. It is important to monitor and understand air quality because polluted air can be bad for our health and the health of the environment.

To help the ÍÑ¿ã°É Bay community better understand our air quality, Dr. Michael Schmeltz has installed low-cost air sensors, PurpleAir Monitors. Expanding this network of air monitors will help us learn about air quality and what actions to take to protect our health and the health of our family and community.

The air we breathe has many components. Gases like nitrogen and oxygen that make up the major components of air are essential to life. However, the air also contains smaller amounts of many other gases and particles that may be harmful to our health.

Two of the main pollutants are ozone and particulate matter (PM). Ozone is a gas you may have heard of that is high up in our atmosphere, though when ozone is close to the surface, called ground-level ozone; it can be harmful to our health. Particulates are solid and liquid droplets in the air and come from car exhaust pipes, wildfires, volcanoes, and many other natural and man-made sources.

These pollutants can cause both acute and chronic health issues, such as triggering an asthma attack or increasing our risk for cardiovascular diseases. Even healthy people can experience health impacts from polluted air and your risk depends on your current health status, the pollutant type and concentration, and how long you are exposed to polluted air.