Tropospheric Chemistry: Projects

USOS, Salt Lake City, Utah. Researchers will investigate summertime ozone in the Wasatch Front region of northern Utah during the Utah Summer Ozone Study (USOS) in the summer of 2024. NOAA CSL will carry out observations through a combination of mobile laboratory (instrumented vehicle and small aircraft) measurements and augmentation of fixed ground sites with research grade instruments. More Info

AiRMAPS, Colorado and Utah, Baltimore and Marcellus Shale, Texas and U.S. Southwest, Western U.S. O&G Basins, Marcellus Shale and Urban Midwest. Airborne and Remote sensing Methane and Air Pollutant Surveys (AiRMAPS) is a series of studies in 2024-2028 across the U.S. to provide comprehensive and quantitative top-down emissions data for methane, other greenhouse gases (GHGs), and major air pollutants from oil and gas (O&G) production basins, and selected urban and agricultural areas. NOAA OAR and NESDIS lead this investigation of greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions and impacts. More Info

AEROMMA, Coastal U.S. megacities. Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) addresses emerging research needs in urban air quality, marine chemistry influences on cloud formation, and interactions at the marine-urban interface. Researchers will investigate anthropogenic and marine emissions that alter tropospheric composition and impact air quality and climate from science flight and ground site activities based in Palmdale, California, Dayton, Ohio, and the NYC metro area during Summer 2023. More Info

CalFiDE, California. The California Fire Dynamics Experiment (CalFiDE) is a six week study of wildfire behavior and its response to spatially and temporally evolving wind fields in the California summer of 2022. The experiment will provide new data on the emissions and chemistry leading to ozone formation in wildfire plumes and in populated areas impacted by these plumes. Instrumented mobile platforms include the NOAA Twin Otter with a payload measuring atmospheric chemistry compounds. More Info

SCENTS, CSU Science Chamber. Secondary organic aerosol Chamber Experiments for Non-Traditional Species (SCENTS) during Spring and Summer 2022 will provide a unique opportunity to study oxidation products, which is necessary preparation for AEROMMA. More Info

SABRE, Ellington Field. Stratospheric aerosols are an important component of Earth's albedo, and therefore energy balance, and provide surface area for heterogeneous chemistry, which can lead to stratospheric ozone loss. Acquiring a comprehensive database of stratospheric aerosol, trace gas and dynamical observations to establish the baseline state and background variability of the stratosphere is essential. CSL integrates instruments aboard the the NASA WB-57 research aircraft. Test flights commence from Ellington Field, Houston, Texas in January 2022. An Arctic deployment occurs February-March 2023, followed by tropical science Summer 2025 and southern hemisphere science Summer 2026. More Info

Marshall Fire Air Quality Response, Superior and Louisville, Colorado. When the Marshall Fire tore through Superior and Louisville on 30 December 2021, it destroyed more than 1,000 homes and damaged nearly 150 others. At the request from Boulder County Public Health and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, investigators drove the mobile laboratory through neighborhoods to understand the lingering effects of smoke in outdoor air quality. More Info

SUNVEx, Los Angeles, CA and Las Vegas, NV. Southwest Urban NOx and VOC Experiment (SUNVEx) addresses emerging research needs in urban air quality ahead of AEROMMA. The project is part of Re-Evaluating the Chemistry of Air Pollutants in California (RECAP-CA) and evaluates ozone formation and its sensitivity to NOx and VOCs in Las Vegas. Researchers will investigate anthropogenic emissions that alter tropospheric composition and impact air quality and climate from ground-based activities during Summer 2021. More Info

COVID-AQS, Boulder, Colorado. The COVID-19 outbreak was a never before seen health crisis that completely disrupted our way of life. It provides an unprecedented opportunity to assess changes in U.S. emissions and urban air quality due to decreased traffic and economic activities. Measurements made from the NOAA David Skaggs Research Center in Spring 2020 will be analyzed and compared to past in situ measurements at CSL, along with satellite data, and used in regional air quality models. More Info

FIREX-AQ, Western U.S. Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) is a NOAA / NASA interagency intensive study of North American fires during the 2019 wildfire season. The project combines the previously separate NASA FIREChem and NOAA FIREX aircraft campaigns to better study the atmospheric effects of wildland and agricultural fires in the U.S. This offers significant advantages to the research community by optimally leveraging the scientific interests, personnel, and assets of NASA, NOAA, other agencies, and academic partners in a fully integrated program of field measurements, modeling, and interpretation. More Info

NYICE, New York City metro. Researchers drove an instrumented van (our Mobile Laboratory) into New York City for the New York Investigations of Consumer Emissions (NYICE) project in March 2018. Investigators were particularly interested in volatile organic compound (VOC) emission source areas in and around the New York City (NYC) metropolitan area (comprised of portions of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut in and around NYC). Researchers parked the mobile lab at City College of New York, taking measurements among a dense population as a ground site. In addition, researchers acquired data during daytime drives up and down Manhattan, staying close to Times Square at morning and evening rush hour, and around the metro area. They returned in July 2018 for measurements during the summer season. More Info

FAST-LVOS, Angel Peak, Nevada. The Fires, Asian, and Stratospheric Transport - Las Vegas Ozone Study (FAST-LVOS) seeks to understand the major sources of surface ozone in Clark County, Nevada, and study why ozone levels there sometimes soar above healthy levels. The study also puts emphasis on characterizing the roles of emissions from regional wildfires and pollution from southern California in addition to transport from the stratosphere and from Asia. An instrumented van (our Mobile Laboratory) is stationed on a mountain top overlooking Las Vegas during May - June 2017 for near daily measurements. More Info

UWFPS, Northern Utah. The urban air basins along Utah's Wasatch Mountains, a region with 2.4 million residents, experience some of the most severe particulate matter (PM) air pollution in the Nation. The Utah Winter Fine Particulate Study (UWFPS) aims to investigate the particulate matter in the basins of northern Utah in wintertime of 2017, and quantify Utah's starting point for compliance to the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter concentrations. More Info

FIREX FireLab, Missoula, Montana. Wildfires have implications for air quality and carbon release, and changes in climate sharpen the problems involving widfires in the western U.S. The Fire Influence on Regional and Global Environments Experiment (FIREX) is a coordinated research effort to understand and predict the impact of North American fires on the atmosphere and ultimately support better land management. Laboratory studies at the USDA Fire Sciences Lab in Missoula commence in the fall of 2016. More Info

ATom, NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. The Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) studies the impact of human-produced air pollution on greenhouse gases and on chemically reactive gases in the atmosphere. Airborne instruments look at how atmospheric chemistry is transformed by various air pollutants and at the impact on methane and ozone which affect climate. Observations occur seasonally over three years (2016-2018). Flights aboard NASA's DC-8 originate from the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, fly north to the western Arctic, south to the South Pacific, east to the Atlantic, north to Greenland, and return to California across central North America for a systematic, global-scale sampling of the atmosphere. More Info

Aliso Canyon Study, Los Angeles, California. On 23 October 2015, a well blowout occurred at the Southern California Gas Company's Aliso Canyon underground storage facility near Los Angeles. Scientists at CSD quickly teamed with colleagues at Scientific Aviation, the University of California, and the California Energy Commission to assess the 60 atmospheric impacts of the leak. They began airborne and ground measurements two weeks after the blowout to quantify the leak rate of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Their 13 research flights and ground data gave an unprecedented "end-to-end" benchmark of the total amount of methane that had leaked: 97,100 metric tons, the largest methane leak in U.S. history. More Info

SONGNEX, Western U.S. The goal of the Shale Oil and Natural Gas Nexus (SONGNEX) 2015 program is to quantify the emissions of trace gases and fine particles from several different tight oil and shale gas basins in the western U.S., and to study the chemical transformation of these emissions. The study focuses on basins which represent a mixture of oil and gas production regions at various stages of development. This airborne study involves the NOAA WP-3D aircraft mobile platform. More Info

WINTER, mid-Atlantic. The large majority of field intensives in polluted regions have focused principally on understanding emissions, transformation and transport in warmer conditions. The Wintertime INvestigation of Transport, Emissions, and Reactivity (WINTER) study provides detailed, aircraft-based measurements to address the seasonality of these processes. The NSF C-130 is based in the mid-Atlantic region over six weeks in January - February 2015. Flights take place on scales ranging from investigations of local sources (urban, power plant, agricultural) to longer-range transport. Results critically inform atmospheric chemical models for ozone, aerosols and a variety of other primary and secondary pollutants. More Info

Agricultural Emissions Studies, Colorado Eastern Plains. Researchers are carrying out source studies using an instrumented van to measure emissions of major nitrogen-containing species, methane, and other gases simultaneously. These measurements are necessary to attribute emissions to specific sources and to identify the best agricultural management practices to minimize emissions to the air. The agricultural emissions studies in 2016 use our mobile laboratory along with an instrumented light aircraft. More Info