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EPA scientists collaborate with NASA to improve view of air pollution from space
Posted: June 23, 2011
Scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and NASA are collaborating on a project aimed at improving satellite capability to interpret air quality conditions near the earth’s surface.
The project — known as "DISCOVER-AQ" — stands for Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from COlumn and VERtically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality. NASA is the lead on this five-year project.
DISCOVER-AQ will employ NASA aircraft to make a series of flights with scientific instruments on board to measure gaseous and particulate pollution in targeted metropolitan areas. These measurements will be taken in concert with satellite and ground measurements to shed light on how satellites can be used to understand pollutant concentrations and distributions near the earth’s surface. The research is also expected to provide a greater understanding of how the existing air monitoring network funded by EPA and run by states and local agencies could be used to improve satellite observations. With improved ability to monitor pollution from satellites, scientists could make better air quality forecasts, more accurately determine sources of pollutants in the air, and more closely determine fluctuations in emissions levels.
The first segment of the project’s data collection will run from July 1-31, when two NASA airplanes will fly in unison over the Baltimore-Washington Interstate-95 corridor collecting data on ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, aerosols, and sulfur dioxide.
One plane will fly at approximately 26,000-feet and use remote sensing technology to sample a column of air beneath it. The other plane will fly at approximately 1,000 feet and sample the air near it. This plane will also fly in spirals 1,000- to 5,000-feet over surface air quality monitors operated by EPA, the Maryland Department of the Environment and various academic institutions. The purpose of this is to collect a “vertical profile” of pollutant measurements that researchers will use to determine the links between pollution measured at the earth’s surface and the column measurements being collected by the other NASA plane.
EPA scientists additionally will use ground-based instruments to measure oxides of nitrogen and ozone to supplement the existing ground-based instruments operated by the Maryland Department of the Environment. The monitoring provided by EPA will help ensure more complete coverage of surface concentrations of pollutants along the flight paths and will help EPA evaluate potential improved monitoring technology.
The Maryland Department of Environment, through their existing air monitoring network, will also be collecting ground-based measurements of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, aerosols, and volatile organic compounds.
The planes —a NASA Langley King Air B-200 and a NASA P-3B — will make 14 flights during July. Each flight will be 8 hours long. Since clear skies are necessary for data collection, flights will be scheduled 24-hours in advance. One plane will fly out of Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and the other out of Wallops Island in Chincoteague, Va.
Short test flights will run in late June prior to the start of air sampling. Preliminary results of this summer’s air monitoring are expected in December 2011.
For more information on DISCOVER-AQ, visit http://discover-aq.larc.nasa.gov
The DISCOVER-AQ project is part of NASA’s Earth Venture program: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/may/Hq_10-127_Venture_Program.html
DISCOVER-AQ is a collaboration among scientists from EPA, NASA, and multiple universities. For a complete list of collaborators, visit http://discover-aq.larc.nasa.gov/participants.php.