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  • Presentation | GH41B: Computational Methods and Tools for Air Quality Exposure Assessments and Solutions I Poster
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  • GH41B-0691: Landfill Burning Detection for Air Quality Impacts in South and Southeast Asia: A Machine Learning Approach
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  • Board 0691‚ Hall EFG (Poster Hall)
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Author(s):
Metta Nicholson, Stanford University (First Author, Presenting Author)
Paul Tulloch, Stanford University
Robert Jackson, Stanford University


When landfills burn, they release air pollutants that are harmful to human health. Sometimes, waste in landfills is burnt as a routine management strategy when other forms of waste management are limited. Other times, landfill burns may be the accidental result of the buildup of methane, a flammable gas that is released when materials such as food waste are broken down. High-resolution images from satellites provide a unique opportunity to track these landfill burns across large regions. We use such imagery to develop a machine learning model that recognizes evidence of burning, such as visible plumes of smoke, at landfill sites in South and Southeast Asia. Our results suggest that landfill burning in this region occurs frequently, and can impact air quality even at large distances from the landfill. In addition, we build on previous research to determine air pollution exposure from these landfill burns, using a combination of known releases of pollutants from garbage burning and models that show the movement of pollutants spatially. We perform this analysis for several health-damaging air pollutants at selected sites during 2024. Finally, we explore the potential of these methods to be applied to landfill sites across the world.



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