Today (February 28), NASA research aircraft arrived in Taiwan again as part of the Kao-Ping Air Quality Experiment conducted under the 7-SEAS Mission, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Taiwan. The project involves more than 200 participants from the Central Weather Administration and the Civil Aviation Administration of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Air Force Weather Wing, the Air Force Institute of Technology, Environmental Protection Bureaus of individual cities and counties, and 45 professors from domestic academies. NASA operated two ground-based supersites in collaboration with Taiwan partners. Instruments used include a vertical spectrometer station of the U.S.’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), air quality stations, drones, wind profilers and wind LIDAR, sounding balloons, and solar radiometers, measuring continuously for 48 hours during the campaign. This international joint observation will integrate data on topography and atmospheric circulation to help assess the 3D distribution and temporal variations of air pollutants.
The Ministry of Environment indicated that two NASA aircraft arrived in Taiwan on February 15. During their cumulative four hours of data-gathering flights, a DC-8 aircraft measured variations in air pollutants from 46 feet (15 meters) to 11,000 feet (3,300 meters) in the Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan Region. Another Gulfstream-III aircraft measured regional air quality between Taichung and Pingtung at 28,500 feet (8,600 meters) above sea level. In addition, 138 drone flights and 68 sounding launches were conducted during the Kao-Ping 3D Air Quality Experiment to observe vertical changes in air pollutants. The NASA aircraft are in Taiwan today to cooperate with domestic inter-ministerial organizations and scholars, providing high-temporal resolution 3D air quality data on pollutants such as ozone, PM2.5, and their precursors. These valuable data can be used to validate satellite observations, and model evaluation and control strategies for improving Taiwan’s air quality.
Sources: Ministry of Environment
