Research Flights Seek to Improve View of Air Pollution from Space (HQ)
WASHINGTON -- This summer two NASA research airplanes will fly
over the Baltimore-Washington region and northeast Maryland as part
of a mission to enhance the capability of satellites to measure
ground-level air quality from space. The flights will be supported
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and will aid the agency
in monitoring pollutants that affect people’s
health.
”With improved ability to monitor
pollution from satellites, scientists can make better air quality
forecasts, and more accurately determine sources of air pollutants.
This information is useful in developing strategies to protect our
nation’s air quality,” said Dr. Paul Anastas, Assistant
Administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and
Development.
The flight measurements will be taken in
concert with satellite and ground measurements. EPA scientists will
use ground-based instruments to measure oxides of nitrogen and
ozone along portions of the flight path. Data from the project is
expected to provide a greater understanding of how the existing
ground-based air monitoring network funded by EPA and run by states
and local agencies can be used to improve satellite
observations.
A fundamental challenge for space borne
instruments monitoring air quality is to distinguish between
pollution high in the atmosphere and that near the surface where
people live and breathe. The new field project will make
measurements from aircraft in combination with ground-based
observations to help scientists better understand how to observe
ground-level pollution from space in the future.
The project is called DISCOVER-AQ, which
stands for Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column
and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air
Quality. It is
one of five Earth Venture investigations selected in 2010 as part
of NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder program. These targeted
science investigations complement NASA's larger research
missions.
"What we're trying to do with DISCOVER-AQ is to
fill the knowledge gap that limits our ability to monitor air
pollution with satellites," said James Crawford, the mission's
principal investigator based at NASA's Langley Research Center in
Hampton, Va.
Since many countries, including the
United States, have large gaps in ground-based networks of air
pollution monitors, experts look toward satellites to provide a
more complete geographic perspective on the distribution of
pollutants.
NASA's A-Train constellation of satellites,
including Aqua and Aura, will pass over the DISCOVER-AQ study area
each day in the early afternoon. This data will give scientists the
opportunity to compare the view from space with that from the
ground and aircraft.
"Although we are better at detecting some
pollutants from space than others, broadly speaking we have
difficulty distinguishing between pollutants high in the
atmosphere, which we can see quite well with satellites, and
pollutants at the surface," said Kenneth Pickering,
DISCOVER-AQ’s project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Test flights begin as early as June 27
followed by up to 14 flights during July using two NASA planes.
Sampling will focus on an area extending from Beltsville, Md., to
the northeastern corner of Maryland in a pattern that follows major
roadway traffic corridors. The flight path passes over six ground
measurement sites operated by the Maryland Department of the
Environment.
Ground sites maintained by the Maryland
Department of the Environment form the backbone of the surface
network. These sites will supplemented by additional
instrumentation provided by NASA, EPA, Howard University,
Pennsylvania State University, the University of Maryland-Baltimore
County, and Millersville University in Pennsylvania. In the air,
NASA investigators will be joined by colleagues from the National
Center for Atmospheric Research, the University of
California-Berkeley, and the University of Innsbruck in
Austria.
The combined scientific resources are
what make DISCOVER-AQ a rare opportunity for air quality
researchers. "It's not just one instrument that's more important
than another. It is the combination of all of them that makes this
campaign valuable," said Jennifer Hains, a research statistician
with the Maryland Department of the Environment in
Baltimore.
More information on EPA’s work on
DISCOVER-AQ: http://www.epa.gov/nerl/discover-aq.html
More information on the DISCOVER-AQ
project: https://www.nasa.gov/discover-aq/