Rahul Rao is a graduate of New York University's SHERP and a freelance science writer, regularly covering physics, space, and infrastructure. His work has appeared in Gizmodo, Popular Science, Inverse, IEEE Spectrum, and Continuum. He enjoys riding trains for fun, and he has seen every surviving episode of Doctor Who.
Two NASA aircraft, including the P-3 shown here, will be flying over Baltimore, Philadelphia, Virginia and California between June 17 and July 2, to collect data on air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.We've reached a point when scientists can easily gauge levels of greenhouse gases or other air pollutants just by measuring their concentrations in the atmosphere.
Wolfe and fellow researchers used a pair of turboprop aircraft, one B200 and one P-3 Orion. On board are instruments that take air samples and measure greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, and other air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde and ozone.
From June 17 to 26, the two planes' crews took the instruments for spins over Philadelphia, Baltimore and several cities in Virginia. They circled over power plants, landfills and urban areas at altitudes of 1,000 feet to 10,000 feet , which is lower than the altitude of most commercial flights. They also conducted mock landings at airports, approaching runways, then intentionally missing these targets.
The East Coast leg of the project is finished, but the planes will soon embark on the second phase of their summer flights. NASA has already begun moving the planes to Southern California, where — from June 29 to July 2 — teams will measure air pollution over Los Angeles, the Tulare Basin to the north and the Imperial Valley to the southeast.
Rahul Rao is a graduate of New York University's SHERP and a freelance science writer, regularly covering physics, space, and infrastructure. His work has appeared in Gizmodo, Popular Science, Inverse, IEEE Spectrum, and Continuum. He enjoys riding trains for fun, and he has seen every surviving episode of Doctor Who.
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