PH ties up with SoKor to monitor, improve air quality
Published Aug 4, 2023 12:46 pm
The Philippines has stepped up its air quality monitoring capacity as it partners with South Korea in a bid to improve the government's plans and policies.
Manila and Seoul recently signed a partnership agreement to roll out the Pan-Asia Partnership for Geospatial Air Pollution Information and the Pandora Asia Network (PAPGAPI-PAN) project.
Photo courtesy of KOICA
The South Korean Embassy in Manila said Friday the initiative "is a technology transfer, data-sharing and capacity building initiative on air pollution using data from the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) aboard Korea’s GEO-KOMPSAT-2B satellite complemented by ground-based remote sensing instruments called Pandora." Launched by Seoul 2020, GEMS is the world's first geostationary satellite sensor for air quality monitoring, which enables hourly monitoring of air pollution levels in almost 20 countries in Asia, including the Philippines. According to the embassy, the project will provide the Philippines, particularly the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), the capability to combine satellite and ground measurements for a comprehensive overview of air quality in the country. Pandora instruments are expected to be installed and operated in the country within the year. Puerto Princesa in Palawan and the Manila Observatory in Quezon City have been selected to become Pandora sites, based on existing infrastructure, logistics and scientific merit. The Pandora instruments will be part of the Pandora Global Network (PGN), which collects the Pandora data around the world to provide air quality data. Data collected will help the Philippine government better understand air pollution and air quality for the next plans and policies to be taken. "It is expected that this will fill information gaps to help build more evidence-based policy making to address air quality issues in the country," the embassy said. The Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and PhilSA "will jointly provide technical and operational support to implement the project in the identified sites," it added.
Photo courtesy of KOICA
The South Korean Embassy in Manila said Friday the initiative "is a technology transfer, data-sharing and capacity building initiative on air pollution using data from the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) aboard Korea’s GEO-KOMPSAT-2B satellite complemented by ground-based remote sensing instruments called Pandora." Launched by Seoul 2020, GEMS is the world's first geostationary satellite sensor for air quality monitoring, which enables hourly monitoring of air pollution levels in almost 20 countries in Asia, including the Philippines. According to the embassy, the project will provide the Philippines, particularly the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), the capability to combine satellite and ground measurements for a comprehensive overview of air quality in the country. Pandora instruments are expected to be installed and operated in the country within the year. Puerto Princesa in Palawan and the Manila Observatory in Quezon City have been selected to become Pandora sites, based on existing infrastructure, logistics and scientific merit. The Pandora instruments will be part of the Pandora Global Network (PGN), which collects the Pandora data around the world to provide air quality data. Data collected will help the Philippine government better understand air pollution and air quality for the next plans and policies to be taken. "It is expected that this will fill information gaps to help build more evidence-based policy making to address air quality issues in the country," the embassy said. The Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and PhilSA "will jointly provide technical and operational support to implement the project in the identified sites," it added.