NASA has made air quality data available through its Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution instrument, a.k.a. TEMPO, a space-based spectrometer that collects information on air pollutants across North America.
The agency said Thursday new data collected by TEMPO is available from the Atmospheric Science Data Center at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
TEMPO, built by BAE Systems’ space and mission systems division, flies aboard the Intelsat 40e satellite and measures air pollutants such as formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide and ground-level ozone.
“NASA and the Biden-Harris Administration are committed to addressing the climate crisis and making climate data more open and available to all. The air we breathe affects everyone, and this new data is revolutionizing the way we track air quality for the benefit of humanity,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
Xiong Liu, senior physicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and principal investigator for the TEMPO mission, said air quality data from TEMPO will play a critical role in the scientific analysis of pollution.
“For example, we will be able to conduct studies of rush hour pollution, linkages of diseases and health issues to acute exposure of air pollution, how air pollution disproportionately impacts underserved communities, the potential for improved air quality alerts, the effects of lightning on ozone, and the movement of pollution from forest fires and volcanoes,” he said.