When scientists switched on the instrument aboard a new satellite this summer, they got a preview of what will soon be the nation’s first continuous record of air pollution.
The satellite will stay parked above North America and provide scientists with hourly daytime updates on air pollution nationwide.
The satellite instrument, called TEMPO, will be able to measure several other pollutants as well.
The images come during a summer of exceptionally bad air quality for the United States, with smoke from wildfires blanketing multiple cities and regions.
But even before this summer, over the past decade or so, the gains in air quality Americans have enjoyed since the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970 had started to plateau.
Persons:
“, ”, Xiong Liu
Organizations:
Center, Astrophysics, Harvard University, Smithsonian Institution
Locations:
America, United States