NASA To Fly Greenhouse-Gas-Detecting Planes To Gauge Air Pollution Level

NASA to Fly Greenhouse-Gas-Detecting Planes to Gauge Air Pollution Level
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/ European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery)

NASA is working on a potential solution to map air pollution in the country. The US space agency will fly planes to gauge the level of greenhouse gases.

NASA to Fly Greenhouse-Gas-Detecting Planes

It is not always clear where the pollution truly originates from. So, it's essential to spot the neighborhoods that release the most carbon dioxide to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in those areas.

To solve this, NASA offers a solution -- flying greenhouse-gas-detecting planes.

NASA will be flying aircraft that can detect greenhouse gases this summer. For the past week and a half, NASA researchers and student interns have flown a pair of aircraft over the central-east United States, guiding them low over airports, industrial sites, and city centers to create a precise map of air pollution. The same aircraft will be moved to California by this weekend so that the researchers may begin collecting the same data there.

According to a statement from Glenn Wolfe, the campaign's principal investigator and a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the objective is that the data gathered will inform policy choices that impact the region's climate and air quality.

Wolfe and associates employed a B200 and a P-3 Orion turboprop aircraft. Onboard is equipment measuring air pollutants and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and ozone.

Between June 17 and June 26, the crews of the two aircraft took the instruments on spins over Baltimore, Philadelphia, and a few Virginian communities. They flew at heights between 1,000 and 10,000 feet (305 and 3,048 meters), lower than most commercial aircraft, circling above power plants, landfills, and cities. Additionally, they performed simulated landings at airports by deliberately missing targets as they approached runways.

NASA wants to use measurements from higher above, specifically from TEMPO. TEMPO measures air pollution throughout North America on an hourly basis. The aircraft flights can supplement TEMPO's measurements with extra information regarding pollutants at various altitudes near the surface of the Earth.

The project's East Coast portion is complete, but the aircraft will start their summer flight schedule soon. NASA has already begun to move the aircraft to Southern California, where teams will monitor air pollution over Los Angeles, the Imperial Valley to the southeast, and the Tulare Basin to the north between June 29 and July 2.

ALSO READ: Exposure to Air Pollution Contributes to Bone Damage in Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis

Air Pollution Effects on Health and Planet

Air pollutants such as methane and black carbon, one of the main causes of global warming, are potent short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) contributing to climate change and poor health. Even though SLCPs only have a brief lifetime in the atmosphere, they frequently have a far more significant potential for global warming than CO2.

Another significant greenhouse gas 84 times more powerful than CO2 is methane, another SLCP that forms before ozone, an air pollutant. Ozone and black carbon also affect food security.

Additionally, poor air quality has adverse effects on our health. Stroke, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, pneumonia, and cataracts are the specific illness outcomes most closely associated with exposure to air pollution.

Additionally, there is evidence to show that exposure to air pollution increases the risk of various malignancies, diabetes, neurological illnesses, low birth weight, small for gestational age, and cognitive impairment. It can also contribute to bone damage in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.