Short Duration Spikes
Context Corner Edition 8
August 22, 2024
By Carrie Crumpton, CNX Vice President of Environmental Strategy
In just nine months, the air quality monitoring portion of the Radical TransparencyTM program has expanded to include 11 well pads and 3 compressor stations, with more coming soon. Since the start of the program, over 100,000 data points have been collected and displayed here on the website, providing an in-depth look at the air quality status at our sites. That is a LOT of data coming in!
When viewing the air quality monitoring data feeds, you may notice occasional anomalies on the PM2.5 graphs, such as temporary spikes or disruptions in the data. When those anomalies show up real-time, CNX personnel work diligently to understand the conditions on and around our monitored locations that may be causing these variances.
These anomalies are identified on the PM2.5 hourly graph that you see on the website with a note that provides additional context.
Hey Carrie, what do you mean by “short duration spike?”
You may have seen context that says, “short duration spike,” “loss of communications,” or “instrument maintenance.” These descriptions provide a quick snapshot of the site conditions that we found when we looked into certain variances in the real-time data. Let’s take a deeper look at what could be happening on the sites when anomalies are showing up in the data.
If you need a quick review about PM2.5, the very first edition of Context Corner is a great place to start!
Temporary spikes in hourly PM2.5 are often labeled with “short duration spike,” because the increase in PM2.5 concentration is not from a continuing source and lasts for a brief period of time. At our monitoring locations, these spikes can often be attributed to temporary dust from unpaved roadways and construction or exhaust from combustion sources, including fixed and mobile equipment that may be on our sites at any given time.
Understanding what contributes to increased PM2.5 concentrations helps CNX continuously improve and take preventative steps to reduce these occurrences, such as increasing dust control and limiting idling of vehicles.
Sometimes factors outside of our operations can lead to spikes in the data feed, including wildfire smoke and other regional industrial activity. For example, if a wildfire is occurring even hundreds of miles away, as we saw last year with the Canadian fires, and the wind is blowing the smoke toward our sites, the monitors will measure an increased concentration of PM2.5 and the graph will show a spike. Such a spike would be reflected on all three monitors that we display: upwind, downwind, and the PADEP regional monitor, as both regional and on-site air would be impacted by the wildfire smoke.
What happens when the data is disrupted?
On the PM2.5 graphs, “data disruption” can look like a gap in the data where the concentration is measuring zero for an extended period of time, meaning the monitor has ceased collecting data for some reason. These gaps can be caused by power outages affecting the site, maintenance being performed on the monitors, or some other loss of communication between the monitor and data collection applications. Gaps lasting over half of a day, are noted and contextualized on the website.
Through the Radical TransparencyTM program, CNX provides unabridged, real-time data, so when the monitors go down, you will see it (and keep in mind that this data is provided simultaneously to the PADEP, so they will see it too). What you will also see is a quick response to get the monitors back up and running, and to continue providing real-time data to our community and stakeholders. With added context to temporary spikes and data disruptions, over 100,000 data points from 14 sites are available and ready for your viewing. Hope you take a look!
If you have any questions, submit them here.
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