U-20 Championships: World Athletics launches second phase of air quality project

Bengaluru, August 18: World Athletics' (WA) air quality project made a big leap forward with the second phase launch of its research efforts in Nairobi, Kenya, on the sidelines of the Under-20 World Championships which got underway on Wednesday (August 18).

As part of the game's global governing body's pilot programme to measure and analyse air quality at sporting venues around the world, an air quality monitor was installed 18 months ago at Kasarani Stadium, the host venue of the WA U-20 Championships.

That installation, used primarily to assess the feasibility of maintaining high-end air quality devices in remote locales, paved the way for Tuesday's launch which will include the deployment of a wide range of technologies that will enable researchers to collect and analyse more data than ever before.

It's here!! 🥳

Today and for the rest of the week the best teenage athletes will be chasing #WorldAthleticsU20 titles, medals and personal bests in Nairobi 🇰🇪

Here's what this morning's session has in store 👇

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 18, 2021

The potential of the Nairobi research is great, said Miguel Escribano, Business Development Director for Kunak, the manufacturer of the air quality monitoring devices, because it is often difficult for local authorities to pinpoint pollution sources and trends to develop effective solutions.

"Conventional air pollution management commonly relies on a few reference stations that are expensive and difficult to operate - and in mathematical modelling with high uncertainty," Escribano said.

"This new sensor technology is changing that dynamic, allowing us to measure and map pollution concentrations with more spatial resolution, targeting different concentrations inside and outside the stadium for example, and temporal resolution every 5 minutes instead of an hourly average.

"In that sense, the WA initiative at Kasarani Stadium builds on previous efforts by UNEP, The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the MIT Senseable City Lab, C40 and others, to deploy a dense network of sensors in Nairobi for a better understanding of health effects, and to identify and correlate the patterns with different activities and sources like never before."

The set-up this week includes a perimeter of 20 passive dosimeters at the stadium that will help map the area and detect potential hotspots.

Two sensor-based stations have been installed in the warm-up area and at the stadium, just a few metres from where athletes generally gather, to collect data that will contribute to the Health and Science Department's research on the correlation between air quality and performance.

These hyperlocal monitoring stations are equipped with sensors to measure nitrous oxide, ozone and carbon monoxide, along with wind speed and direction and heat stress.

A mobile monitor will be transported in a vehicle around the site mapping hundreds of GPS coordinates to analyse potential changes in the spatial distribution of particles and gases.

"The air quality research we are conducting here is a continuation of the research activities we have carried out so far," said Stephane Bermon, WA Director of Health and Science Department.

Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei shared Bermon's views, "Athletics Kenya is honoured that WA has set out to conduct environmental research during the U-20 Championships. We're looking forward to receiving the results and to learn from them."

As part of its ongoing research into links between air quality and athletics performance, the Health and Science Department will be conducting a survey of athletes participating in the WA U-23 World Championships to better understand the correlation between air quality, performance and respiratory symptoms or conditions.

Athletes will also be surveyed on their attitudes about climate change and sustainability during the event.