CESSRST Participated in the successful AEROMMA, CUPiDs and STAQS Mission.
Over the summer of 2023, NOAA and scientists around the world including CESSRST Faculty and students, participated in several field studies and campaigns including the AEROMMA, CUPiDs and STAQS Mission. CESSRST also join in a project called “Air (Ine)quality in New York City” which was a backpack/street level field mission. These campaigns combines data across multiple spectrums from Satellite to Street level Field observations.
Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) is a comprehensive study led by NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory investigating anthropogenic and marine emissions that alter tropospheric composition and impact air quality and climate over North America. The AEROMMA campaign brings together airborne, ground, and satellite observing systems, and state-of-the-art air quality and climate models, to investigate emerging research needs in urban air quality, atmospheric interactions at the marine-urban interface, marine emissions, satellite-based observations of atmospheric composition, and climate change. AEROMMA also played a crucial role in supporting the evaluation of NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO). TEMPO is a significant initiative by NASA focused on monitoring air pollution in the Earth’s lower atmosphere
Coutesy: Harold Gamarro
CESSRST-II Fellows, Harold Gamarro and Thomas Ely participated in this campaign. For Harold, his responsibility involved leveraging a suite of forecast products to accurately predict weather conditions for the East Coast portion of the project. He also helped in developing and utilizing an advanced urbanized Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model specifically tailored for New York City. This model provided crucial insights into the complex urban atmospheric dynamics, helping us predict the movement and concentration of pollutants like volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ozone, and PM2.5. This work was paramount in planning and executing flight paths for the campaign’s aerial observations, ensuring that the team could capture essential data under optimal atmospheric conditions. Thomas worked on air quality measurement using Lidar remote sensing.
Coastal Urban Plume Dynamics Study (CUPiDS)
The TOPAZ and Doppler lidar ground-based observations will help address several key science questions that are central to these campaigns including characterizing the distribution and formation rate of ozone (O3) in the urban outflow downwind of New York City (NYC).
The successfully campaign was also highlighted in a New York Times article and on the NBC Today show.
Courtesy of NBC Studios
