Toward Momentary Exposomics in Climate Health: Profiling Environmental Exposure Variability Using Sensor-Based Data in Hong Kong

Project Leads: Kate Burrows (UChicago), Diane Lauderdale (UChicago), Peter Keumseok Koh (HKU)

Understanding the impacts of climate related environmental exposures on health is increasingly important in the context of accelerating climate change. Traditionally, environmental stressors have been studied in isolation, for example, assessing air pollution or temperature separately. More recently, the exposome framework has emerged as a holistic alternative, emphasizing the totality of environmental exposures across an individual’s lifespan. Despite its promise, exposomic research still faces key challenges. In particular, most current studies rely on static area-based assessment and have limited ability to capture moment-by-moment fluctuations in exposure due to individual mobility and behavioral patterns. This study aims to address these gaps by using wearable devices and GPS to collect high-resolution, real-time environmental exposure data from individuals as they move through their daily routines. The findings will inform adaptive, targeted interventions for vulnerable populations, such as older adults, outdoor workers, and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Hong Kong provides a highly informative setting for this research, with its dense urban structure, intense heat islands, significant air pollution, large socioeconomic contrasts, and outstanding public transport system. Through the HKU–UChicago collaboration, findings from this study will not only yield context-specific insights for Hong Kong but also inform data collection strategies in U.S. cities facing similar challenges.