ALÁFÍÀ: Air Quality Monitoring in Data-Sparse Regions

An invisible crisis

In the Yoruba language, ALÁFÍÀ means 'well-being'. This new project lives up to its name, targeting Sub-Saharan West Africa's (SSWA) invisible crisis: soaring air pollution amid scarce monitoring. Rapid urbanization, Saharan dust storms, and biomass burning collide with patchy data infrastructure, leaving cities like Lagos and Accra blind to health threats. SSWA faces respiratory disease spikes among children and elderly, crippled agricultural productivity from pollution, and an urban boom colliding with climate transition - all without air quality safeguards.

The Game-Changer

ALÁFÍÀ  want to prove that sophisticated environmental science doesn't require deep pockets, but willingness. Policymakers gain immediate, explainable tools. Communities get proactive health protection. And SSWA leapfrogs expensive monitoring networks entirely.

Ambitions

Funded through NWO's 'Use of Space Infrastructure' program, ALÁFÍÀ uses satellite Earth Observation with physics-informed deep learning. The result? Cost-effective air quality prediction and pollution source tracking that runs on consumer-grade GPU laptops - no million-euro infrastructure required. 'Success isn't just accurate predictions,' says the project lead. 'It's those predictions running on a laptop in Lagos, informing policy in Accra, and training the next generation of atmospheric scientists where they're needed most.'

The project is financed by the NWO Use of Space Infrastructure programma. Project coordinator is dr. Lyana Curier of the Open Universiteit. The core team comprises dr. Lyana Curier, dr. D. S. Tan, prof. dr. Stefano Bromur, prof. dr. Jetse Stoorvogel en dr. S. R. Kanobana.