Launched in April 2023, NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) satellite monitors major air pollutants across North America every daylight hour at high spatial resolution at a geostationary orbit (GEO). With these measurements, NASA’s Synergistic TEMPO Air Quality Science (STAQS) mission integrated TEMPO satellite observations with traditional air quality monitoring to improve understanding of air quality science. STAQS was conducted during summer 2023, targeting urban areas, including Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago.
As part of the mission two aircraft were outfitted with various remote sensing payloads. The Johnson Space Center (JSC) Gulfstream-V (G-V) aircraft featured the GeoCAPE Airborne Simulator (GCAS) and combined High Spectral Resolution Lidar-2 (HSRL-2) and Ozone Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL). This payload provided repeated high-resolution mapping of NO2, HCHO, ozone, and aerosols up to 3x per day over targeted cities.
NASA Langley Research Center’s (LaRC’s) Gulfstream-III measured city-scale emissions 2x per day over the targeted cities with the High-Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO) and Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer – Next Generation (AVIRS-NG). STAQS also incorporated ground-based tropospheric ozone profiles from the NASA Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet), NO2, HCHO, and ozone measurements from Pandora spectrometers, and leveraged existing networks operated by the EPA and state air quality agencies.
The primary goal of STAQS was to improve our current understanding of air quality science under the TEMPO field of regard. Further goals included evaluating TEMPO level 2 data products, interpreting the temporal and spatial evolution of air quality events tracked by TEMPO, improving temporal estimates of anthropogenic, biogenic, and greenhouse gas emissions, and assessing the benefit of assimilating TEMPO data into chemical transport models.
To access the STAQS AVIRIS-NG-derived Methane and Carbon Dioxide Plumes data, please visit the Oak Ridge National Laboratory .
For more information on how to use and access STAQS data, please refer to the STAQS User Guide .
