NASA maps air pollution over cities in 3D

NASA is teaming up with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to measure pollution.

Transcript

00:00 It may be an unusual sight as a large plane soars only 1000 feet overhead.

00:07 But inside, researchers are on an important mission as they tackle air pollution.

00:12 We can understand the science behind air quality much better than before.

00:17 The project is called AROMA and it studies how air quality has changed over the years

00:22 at a higher detail.

00:23 There's a lot of new sources that we haven't seen in the past.

00:27 From the east coast to the west, NOAA and NASA are focusing on cities with the highest

00:32 air pollution.

00:33 And the Central Valley made it to their 2023 list.

00:36 It's dominated by agricultural emissions, by oil and gas.

00:41 There's a lot of transportation.

00:42 There's also transport into the valley.

00:44 So there's a lot of things that are happening in this area that are somewhat unusual.

00:50 And it's also a valley, so it keeps the pollution in.

00:52 Researchers flew overhead last week in NASA's DC-8 aircraft, equipped with 30 different

00:58 instruments to study air quality and chemistry.

01:01 In the Central Valley specifically, we're looking at compounds like ammonia, like methane.

01:07 Those are often from agriculture.

01:09 Collecting up-to-date data on which pollutants are causing the most impact.

01:13 Volatile chemical products are a large source of pollutants into the atmosphere.

01:19 So that's day-to-day products that we all use.

01:22 So those are personal care products, cleaning products, prints, inks, paints on the wall.

01:29 What's collected now will help researchers improve the future of air quality and how

01:33 it's forecasted.

01:34 We need to improve the science that's needed for future modeling, for future understanding

01:42 of what regulations actually make sense.

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