In the book “Around the World in 80 days”, the protagonist Phileas Fogg of London UK and his French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager (roughly £2 million today).
Inspired by Phileas and Passepartout’s global travels, join us as we take a world tour through the lens of air quality monitoring guided by the Local Haze air quality monitoring app.
The Local Haze team is taking a worldwide tour highlighting 80 AQI sensors around the globe, checking out how citizen scientists and air quality enthusiasts are monitoring their local air quality. When we launched our global tour of air quality monitoring, our first stop was in London UK at Victoria station – where Phileas and Passepartout started their journey. We then travelled eastward for stop #2 on our tour to the beautiful city of Porto in northern Portugal. We proceeded on to Dakar, Senegal, and then on to Monrovia, Liberia.
Stop #5 on our tour is Namibia, Republic of Namibia.
Stop #5: Henties Bay, Namibia
Namibia is a country in Southern Africa and shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Namibia’s western border is on the Atlantic Ocean. For stop #5 on our Local Haze tour, we will look at the data reported by a PurpleAir sensor in Namibia located in the coastal town of Henties Bay.
The air quality monitor in Henties Bay is named “University of Namibia (UNAM) Sam Nujoma Campus”. On November 26, 2022 at 10:39:40 PM EST, the Local Haze AQI reading for this sensor was 81. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index (AQI), this reading for air quality is considered “Moderate”. To get the current AQI reading for this PurpleAir sensor in Namibia, download Local Haze and search for sensor “University of Namibia (UNAM) Sam Nujoma Campus” or use the map feature to navigate to Namibia and tap on the map at the location labelled “Henties Bay”.
In the PurpleAir sensor being used at this location, there are two PM2.5 sensors that are both reporting Moderate health impact, where the air quality is acceptable but for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern. (See the diagram below to understand how Local Haze reports on and displays air quality readings and the confidence ratings on the sensor readings, as related to the US EPA Air Quality Index.)
Recent air quality index readings in Henties Bay, Namibia
Over approximately the last two weeks, the air quality index for Namibia has varied between 14 and 52. Like all seaside towns, Henties Bay generally has very good air quality. However, sometimes in the evenings, the air quality falls to the Moderate health impact level. The table below shows the 24-hour averages over the last two weeks of air quality data for Henties Bay.
Moving on to the next AQ sensor
To visit the next AQ sensor in our trip, we will depart Henties Bay, Namibia and continue our travels east – like Phileas Fogg – across the globe, visiting sensors until we return to our starting point in London.
Join us as we travel to the next AQ sensor by following Local Haze on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Use the hashtag #ATW80AQ to join in the conversation and share your thoughts. Find your local air quality for free by downloading the Local Haze app. Bon voyage!
About Local Haze
The Local Haze app is available for free download from the Apple App Store and monitors over 30,000 civic and low-cost air quality sensors over six continents.
