New maps show air pollution in North America

hellojoy12

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) took a significant step to establish the first continuous record of air pollution in North America. The 'Tempo' mission, short for Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution, collected its “first light measurements” of nitrogen dioxide air pollution over the region.

The first images of the mission launched into space last April were captured on August 2. Measurements were made every hour starting at 8:15 a.m. (Pacific time) for six consecutive hours. The US space age Phone Number List ncy explains that the “detailed views of three regions show high levels of nitrogen dioxide in cities in the morning and elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide on major roads. As the day progresses, the morning pollution usually dissipates. In the afternoon, it will rise again as cities enter their second rush hour of the day.”

aircraft UNAM k'usam laboratory geography research institute
Scientific exploration from the air: this is what an aerial laboratory is for
The UNAM Institute of Geography is probably the Mexican institution that has spent the most time on the air supporting social projects.
How does 'Tempo', NASA's satellite against air pollution, work?
'Tempo' is the first instrument in geostationary orbit. It rotates at the same speed and in the same direction as the planet to remain over a specific part of the globe. Thanks to the instrument, for the first time, NASA can make hourly daytime measurements of nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde and other polluting gases throughout the United States, the Caribbean islands and most of Canada and Mexico. The satellite can study variations in pollution at smaller scales such as neighborhoods or roads.

Gases in the atmosphere absorb sunlight. The satellite measures the glare reflected and scattered by the Earth's surface, clouds and the atmospheric zone. These spectra are used to quantify the presence of polluting atmospheric gases . “The amount of nitrogen dioxide is given as 'column density,' defined as the total number of nitrogen dioxide molecules in a column of air above one square centimeter at the Earth's surface. The density of the tropospheric column is the amount of nitrogen dioxide in the lower part of the atmosphere, from the surface to about 10 km altitude,” explains NASA.



But this mission has its limits. By using visible sunlight to make measurements, the satellite cannot detect pollution hidden beneath the clouds. Cloudy areas appear as missing data in the visualization. The system can only measure with top-down observations. Detecting the presence of contaminants at different altitudes is impossible, as explains chemist Gregory Frost, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).