NASA Launches Airborne Assault Against Asian Pollution

NASA has embarked on an ambitious journey with its massive airborne laboratory, the DC-8, conducting extensive flights across Asia to improve air pollution forecasting and management models. This endeavor aims to pinpoint the sources and patterns of air pollution, a critical step towards developing more accurate systems for public alerts. Given that air pollution contributes to millions of fatalities each year, the significance of this mission is profound.

Launching in the Philippines, the DC-8 has begun undertaking flights of up to eight hours, flying as low as 15 meters (50 feet) above the ground to gather air samples for comprehensive analysis. Barry Lefer from NASA emphasized the mission’s capacity to quantify pollution emissions directly from various sources, a key component in refining air quality prediction models.

The significance of this mission lies in its potential to overcome the limitations of traditional ground and satellite monitoring methods, which struggle with detailed tracking of pollutant spread. By collecting airborne measurements, NASA seeks to enhance the interpretation of satellite data and improve the reliability of air quality forecasts.

During its mission, the DC-8, equipped with sophisticated instruments, has performed intricate maneuvers over populous regions in the Philippines, including Manila. A smaller NASA Gulfstream jet aids the mission by generating three-dimensional maps of pollutants. The research flights will expand to include South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand, investigating air pollution in regions with some of the world’s highest air pollution-related mortality rates.

Named ASIA-AQ, this collaborative effort between NASA and the governments of the participating countries is set to yield results within a year. These findings are anticipated to shed light on the intricate nature of air pollution in Asia, offering invaluable insights for tackling this global health issue.