A scalable framework for harmonizing, standardization, and correcting crowd-sourced low-cost sensor PM2.5 data across Europe.

Abstract

Citizen-operated low-cost air quality sensors (LCSs) have expanded air quality monitoring through community engagement. However, still challenges related to lack of semantic standards, data quality, and interoperability hinder their integration into official air quality assessments, management, and research. Here, we introduce FILTER, a geospatially scalable framework designed to unify, correct, and enhance the reliability of crowd-sourced PM_2.5 data across various LCS networks. FILTER assesses data quality through five steps: range check, constant value detection, outlier detection, spatial correlation, and spatial similarity. Using official data, we modeled PM_2.5 spatial correlation and similarity (Euclidean distance) as functions of geographic distance as benchmarks for evaluating whether LCS measurements are sufficiently correlated/consistent with neighbors. Our study suggests a -10 to 10 Median Absolute Deviation threshold for outlier flagging (360 h). We find higher PM_2.5 spatial correlation in DJF compared to JJA across Europe while lower PM_2.5 similarity in DJF compared to JJA. We observe seasonal variability in the maximum possible distance between sensors and reference stations for in-situ (remote) PM_2.5 data correction, with optimal thresholds of ∼11.5 km (DJF), ∼12.7 km (MAM), ∼20 km (JJA), and ∼17 km (SON). The values implicitly reflect the spatial representativeness of stations. ±15 km relaxation for each season remains feasible when data loss is a concern. We demonstrate and validate FILTER's effectiveness using European-scale data originating from the two community-based monitoring networks, sensor.community and PurpleAir with QC-ed/corrected output including 37,085 locations and 521,115,762 hourly timestamps. Results facilitate uptake and adoption of crowd-sourced LCS data in regulatory applications.