BALTIMORE — There'll be NASA planes flying over our area for the next 1 1/2 weeks, in a special initiative to study air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
The program will be underway from June 17 through July 2. NASA will be flying over Baltimore, Philadelphia and parts of Virginia through June 26, and over California June 29 through July 2.
The low-flying planes will do maneuvers from 1,000 to 10,000 feet over power plants, landfills and urban areas, and occasionally airports.
They'll be studying greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, as well as air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and ozone.
NASA hopes to validate measurements collected from space, during a mission last spring.
The agency also hopes the data "will feed into policy decisions that affect air quality and climate in the region,” said Goddard Space Flight Center principal investigator Glenn Wolfe, in a press release.