title: Development and case study of a science-based software platform to support policy making on air quality.
abstract: This article describes the development and implementations of a novel software platform that supports real-time, science-based policy making on air quality through a user-friendly interface. The software, RSM-VAT, uses a response surface modeling (RSM) methodology and serves as a visualization and analysis tool (VAT) for three-dimensional air quality data obtained by atmospheric models. The software features a number of powerful and intuitive data visualization functions for illustrating the complex nonlinear relationship between emission reductions and air quality benefits. The case study of contiguous U.S. demonstrates that the enhanced RSM-VAT is capable of reproducing the air quality model results with Normalized Mean Bias <2% and assisting in air quality policy making in near real time.
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Pollution Control, College of Environmental and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: zhuyun@scut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Yanwen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lao
authors.affiliation: USEPA/Office of Air Quality Planning & Standards, RTP, NC 27711, USA.
authors.forename: Carey
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Pollution Control, College of Environmental and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China; Department of Civil Engineering, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX 77710-0024, USA.
authors.forename: Chen-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Shuxiao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-2010, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Junping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Shicheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Long
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D058735:Environmental Policy; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011050:Policy Making; D012984:Software; D062206:Spatial Analysis; D014481:United States; D014584:User-Computer Interface
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants
keywords: Air quality; Data visualization; Emission control scenarios; Policy making; Response surface modeling