URBANCANYONS® Real-Time Information Sharing

Question: What is an urban canyon?
Answer: An urban canyon is an artifact of the urban environment much like a naturally formed canyon. Streetscapes surrounded by dense blocks of tall buildings form the urban canyon. Characterized by unusual wind movements and patterns, these canyons are microclimates that can carry airborne substances in many different and unexpected directions.
Question: Who is Coastal Environmental Systems?
Answer: Coastal Environmental Systems designs, engineers and manufactures environmental data collection systems that work anywhere on the planet. We are system integrators that combine data of all types and then present it in a customized and intuitive manner based on our customers' needs.
Question: What is the URBANCANYONS® product?
Answer: URBANCANYONS® is a comprehensive security solution that mitigates risk by providing real-time incident notification and enabling information sharing among city inhabitants.
Question: Who uses URBANCANYONS®?
Answer: Anybody could benefit from using URBANCANYONS®, but our primary customers are emergency responders, building managers, property owners, business owners, tenants and security—those people who manage and protect people in the downtown. Businesses benefit from real-time incident notification and information sharing by reducing their risk of disruption and injury.
Question: When would I use URBANCANYONS®?
Answer: URBANCANYONS® is useful for monitoring everyday incidents, security planning for major events and major emergencies.
Question: How would I use URBANCANYONS®?
Answer: URBANCANYONS® informs you of incidents near you that could affect your safety and the safety of tenants in your building. When planning a major event you will have environmental data that can help you position security assets. During a major emergency URBANCANYONS® provides information about what is happening through official public safety notification or instruction, perspectives of colleagues in other buildings, and highly localized weather data, all through any web browser.
Question: What is significant about the first 90 minutes of an incident?
Answer: In a natural or man-made disaster, decisions need to be made quickly to minimize loss of life or property. However, early in an incident information may be sparse and the situation confusing. URBANCANYONS® provides critical pieces of information, like what public safety is saying, or what your colleagues see, so that you can make a more informed decision in a timely manner.
Question: How will I get incident information?
Answer: As the 911 dispatcher types a call code into the computer, that information is translated into a message and then filtered based upon the type of call and distance from your location and delivered to you on any electronic device that displays email.
Question: Why are you monitoring gamma radiation?
Answer: Gamma radiation is emitted from all known nuclear sources. An intentional or accidental release of nuclear material in the form of a spill or a bomb would immediately create an airborne concern. A single instance of a spike at one or more sites does not automatically mean there is reason to be concerned. If the detection continues and moves to other sensors then there will be a reason to investigate further.
Question: Why is a single spike or a single detection not necessarily reason to be concerned?
Answer: Many common and helpful processes also produce gamma radiation. For example, X-Rays or nuclear medicines, CT scans, or even radiation therapy treatments and patients all emit some level of gamma radiation.
Question: How will gamma radiation data be monitored and managed?
Answer: There are five gamma radiation monitors positioned in the Seattle Central Business District. These monitoring sites serve three strategic purposes:
1. They measure the relative amount of background gamma radiation present.
2. They allow us to detect the presence of an unusual amount of gamma radiation.
3. They help us determine the movement of an unusual gamma presence. If a dirty bomb event were suspected in or around downtown these sensors would allow us to identify that an event is underway and also quantify the safety perimeter over time.
The sensors measure the gamma radiation in a unit called "micro-REM/hour". This unit measures a level of radiation (REM) over time (hour). It takes one million micro-REMS to equal 1 REM. Background radiation in an urban environment can be a "natural level" created in nature—plus some variations based on the comments above about sources within a city. The natural type of gamma radiation comes from certain rocks, soil types, elevation, and a gas named radon that is naturally released. Radon releases are significantly higher in some areas than others.

To measure background and exposure limits of radiation scientists use: milli-REMs per year (1000 micro REMs [what we are measuring per hour] = 1milli-REM).

The average radiation you will be exposed to in one year in the United States is about 300 milli-REM/year. This being about 70 milli-REM of human made exposure (X-Rays, etc.) and 230 milli-REM/year from natural sources. This is actually quite low, for example in northeast Washington they have annual exposures of over 1700 milli-REM/year because of higher exposures to radon.

Some comparisons can help understand this data. A set of dental X-Rays add up to 10-40 milli-REMs. A person working in a nuclear power plant would have an additional 300 milli-REMs per year more than a person in the general population. The lowest level at which actual radiation sickness might occur is about 100 REM. In the two months we have monitored the existing sites we have measured background radiation levels of less than 100 milli-REMs per year.

Because this data requires interpretation and training to fully understand the readings, access to this data will be provided to first responders and other key individuals.