Thursday, June 30, 2011

NASA Plans Air Pollution Flights Over Maryland On July 1

June 30, 2011

Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov


MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-137

NASA PLANS AIR POLLUTION FLIGHTS OVER MARYLAND ON JULY 1

WASHINGTON -- NASA's DISCOVER-AQ air quality field campaign is
scheduled to take to the skies over the Baltimore-Washington traffic
corridor on Friday, July 1, from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. EDT. The
flight is part of a mission to enhance the capability of satellites
to measure ground-level air quality from space.

NASA's P-3B research aircraft will fly at low altitudes over the
northeast Maryland study region. The P-3B is a large, 117-foot,
four-engine turboprop, carrying nine scientific instruments. It will
fly as low as 1,000 feet above the ground along a route that will
take it over major roadway traffic corridors. The P-3B also will make
spiral ascents and descents over six locations where air-quality
measurements are being made from ground stations.

Approximately 14 DISCOVER-AQ flights are planned through July when
weather conditions are appropriate. NASA will announce each flight by
5 p.m. the day before the aircraft is scheduled to fly. The flights
will occur between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

DISCOVER-AQ, which stands for Deriving Information on Surface
conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant
to Air Quality, is a NASA Earth Science Division research effort
conducted in collaboration with the Maryland Department of the
Environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several
universities.

A detailed map of the P-3B's low-altitude flight path is available at:

http://go.usa.gov/ZiP


For more information about the DISCOVER-AQ mission, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/discover-aq


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