TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are cooperating on an Asian Air Quality Experiment with two NASA aircraft carrying out air quality observations for about four hours in central, southern, and eastern Taiwan on Thursday (Feb. 15).
The airborne observations attracted the attention of WeatherRisk meteorologist Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明), who posted the news to his Facebook page as he encouraged Taiwan citizens to look towards the sky and get a glimpse of a NASA 817 DC8 and a NASA 520 Gulfstream III hovering at low altitudes.
Flights of the two aircraft are being coordinated by National Central University Department of Atmospheric Sciences professor Lin Neng-huei (林能暉). Lin planned the project to be his final one before retirement, bringing together 40 scholars from a dozen cross-ministerial committees and 20 academic research units in Taiwan and abroad.
NASA conducts flyovers to collect air pollution data. (Facebook, 彭啟明)
The research called for 3D analysis to correlate terrain, atmospheric circulation, and air pollutants. The project also integrated ongoing Asian space flight experiments between NASA, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and other countries.
The MOE in a press release said it is upgrading the capability of Taiwan's airborne observation from ground monitoring to 3D integrated observations. It plans to launch a new web page for collaborative monitoring of the atmospheric environment.
The MOE said it looks forward to connecting with international large-scale experiments under a cooperative agreement with NASA, sharing high-resolution air pollution observation data, and conducting ongoing 3D air quality experiments.
Future observations will help meteorologists formulate more sophisticated air pollution control strategies. Important data about airborne pollutants will also help formulate a better model for scientific research, policy formulation, and international cooperation.
