This map shows pollution levels in North America. — AFP Relaxnews
Nasa recently released the first images taken by its air analysis tool, placed in geostationary orbit earlier this year. The aim is to monitor the state and evolution of pollution in the United States, very precisely, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. The same system will soon be rolled out for Europe and Asia.
The US space agency (NASA) has just unveiled its first maps of the state of pollution in the United States, produced by its Tempo (for “Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution”) space instrument. Dedicated to observing the main atmospheric pollutants across North America, it is installed on a telecommunications satellite placed in geostationary orbit more than 35 km above the equator.
Tempo measures “sunlight reflected and scattered from the Earth’s surface and atmosphere back to the instrument’s detectors” throughout daylight hours to gauge levels of various pollutants, starting with ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, aerosols and water vapor.
Unsurprisingly, pollution is concentrated in urban areas. These first images show high levels of nitrogen dioxide over cities in the morning, but also over major roads. It should be noted, however, that as the day progresses, this morning pollution tends to dissipate, before rising again at the end of the afternoon, during rush-hour traffic.
The first measurements were taken in early August. A fine-tuning phase is planned through October, at which time Tempo should become fully operational. The data will then be shared with various partners, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The idea is to help scientists better study air quality across the North American continent, with data reported hourly. Examples provided by Nasa include the effects of rush-hour traffic, smoke and ash from forest fires, and the impact of fertilisers on farmland. Nasa’s ambition is for neighbourhoods across the country to benefit from Tempo data for “decades to come”.
“If this summer’s wildfires in Canada are any indication, it’s clear that pollution emitted in one place can impact communities thousands of miles away, especially communities that are more susceptible to the negative effects of poor air quality,” said Raid M. Suleiman, an astrophysicist at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) and Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), in a news release.
Tempo is part of a vast “climate plan” launched by US President Joe Biden’s administration. This tool will soon be installed on two other satellites, this time to observe air quality in Europe and Asia. – AFP Relaxnews
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