Taiwan Partners With NASA To Tackle Air Pollution
Taiwanese scientists are teaming up with NASA to measure air quality and fight pollution in the country's far south.
Transcript
00:00 "Three, two, one, action!"
00:05 A countdown to cleaner air.
00:08 With the press of a button,
00:09 officials launch a high-tech research program
00:11 aimed at the country's most smog-prone region.
00:14 Taiwan's far south, centered on Kaohsiung
00:16 and neighboring Pingtung,
00:17 is home to heavy industry and power plants.
00:20 But weather and geography also bring in pollution
00:22 from as far away as Southeast Asia and trap it there.
00:26 Scientists want to better understand why this happens
00:28 and how different weather conditions affect the region's air.
00:31 And they want a 3-D picture.
00:34 From ground stations to drones
00:35 to balloons high in the atmosphere,
00:37 scholars from several institutions
00:39 plan to analyze the air at different altitudes this spring.
00:42 It's a project they're calling "KPEX."
00:45 But this is an international effort,
00:47 and it's not happening in a bubble.
00:49 "We're working with NASA to support this project.
00:58 We hope to have better connections
01:02 and get more information."
01:05 NASA's contributing complex scientific equipment to the project.
01:09 The findings will complement a bigger NASA project
01:12 to measure air quality across Asia.
01:14 In a pre-recorded address,
01:16 a NASA official in Washington
01:18 explained why it needs the help of local scientists
01:20 working on the ground in Taiwan,
01:22 and why satellite data alone won't cut it.
01:25 "While remote sensing measurements
01:27 from Earth-observing satellites are important,
01:30 ground-based measurements are essential
01:32 to understanding the details of atmospheric transport,
01:36 chemical transformations,
01:38 and specific impacts on human health.
01:41 Ground-based measurements also enable
01:44 the validation of satellite measurements."
01:47 Analyzing Taiwan's air is about more
01:49 than scientific curiosity.
01:51 Taiwan's environment minister says
01:53 the data will have practical uses.
01:55 "We hope to share the results of our research
01:59 with the world.
02:01 We hope to share the results of our research
02:04 with the world.
02:06 We hope to share the results of our research
02:09 with the world.
02:11 We hope to share the results of our research
02:14 with the world.
02:16 Understanding what pollutants are where and when
02:19 will also help guide future environmental policy,
02:22 allowing residents of Taiwan's far south
02:24 to breathe easier.
02:26 Kama Hsu and John Ventriest for Taiwan Plus.
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