NASA’s TEMPO Mission: A Revolutionary Leap in Air Quality Monitoring
In 2023, NASA launched a groundbreaking mission named TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution), which has been making significant strides in air quality monitoring. Operating from an astonishing altitude of 22,000 miles above Earth, TEMPO has been collecting critical data on the air we breathe. After successfully completing its initial 20-month mission on June 19, NASA has decided to extend this ambitious project until at least September 2026. This mission marks a first for NASA, utilizing a spectrometer to continuously gather hourly air quality data over North America during daylight. TEMPO’s ability to discern details as small as a few square miles is a considerable improvement over its satellite predecessors.
Pioneering New Frontiers in Air Quality Monitoring
Laura Judd, a research physical scientist and part of the TEMPO science team at NASA’s Langley Research Center, highlighted the mission’s success and potential longevity. “NASA satellites often surpass their primary mission timelines. While TEMPO has fulfilled its initial objectives, its journey is far from over,” she expressed. “Transitioning from once-daily images to hourly data is a significant leap forward. We are continuously learning how to interpret this data to understand emissions changes over time and track unusual occurrences like city smog or wildfire smoke transport.”
TEMPO’s capabilities extend to detecting trace gases such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and formaldehyde in the troposphere—the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere. These gases, often resultant from smog, wildfire smoke, dust, or emissions from vehicles and power plants, provide crucial insights into air quality.
Rapid Data Delivery Enhances Decision-Making
A critical achievement during TEMPO’s primary mission was the successful testing of rapid data delivery within three hours, facilitated by NASA’s Satellite Needs Working Group. This swift data processing empowers decision-makers and first responders to issue timely air quality warnings, helping the public minimize outdoor exposure during pollution peaks, explained Hazem Mahmoud, lead data scientist at NASA’s Atmospheric Science Data Center at Langley Research Center.
TEMPO data is archived and made freely accessible through the Atmospheric Science Data Center. Notably, TEMPO has set a remarkable record by surpassing two petabytes, or two million gigabytes, of data downloads within a single year. With over 800 unique users, the high demand for TEMPO’s data underscores its critical importance and immense value to the scientific community and beyond, according to Mahmoud. The primary users of this data include air quality forecasters, atmospheric scientists, and health researchers.
Collaborative Efforts and Expanding Datasets
The TEMPO mission is a collaborative endeavor between NASA and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian oversees daily operations of the TEMPO instrument and produces data products through its Instrument Operations Center. Datasets from TEMPO will be expanded through collaborations with partner agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA is developing aerosol products that differentiate between smoke and dust particles, providing insights into their altitude and concentration.
“These datasets inform the public about rush-hour pollution, air quality alerts, and smoke movement from forest fires,” explained Xiong Liu, TEMPO’s principal investigator at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian. “The library will soon expand with essential aerosol products. Users will be able to leverage these enhanced TEMPO products for air quality monitoring, improving forecast models, deriving pollutant amounts from emissions, and many other scientific applications.”
Community Efforts and Future Prospects
The validation of TEMPO data has been a collective effort involving over 20 agencies at the federal and international levels and a community of more than 200 scientists at research and academic institutions. Laura Judd expressed excitement about TEMPO data bridging knowledge gaps regarding the timing, sources, and evolution of air pollution from this unparalleled space-based perspective.
An agency review is scheduled for the fall to evaluate TEMPO’s achievements, extended mission goals, and lessons learned, which can inform future missions. The TEMPO mission is part of NASA’s Earth Venture Instrument program, which encompasses small, targeted science investigations designed to complement NASA’s larger research missions. Additionally, the instrument is part of a virtual constellation of air quality monitors for the Northern Hemisphere, which includes South Korea’s Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer and ESA’s (European Space Agency) Sentinel-4 satellite.
TEMPO was constructed by BAE Systems Inc., Space & Mission Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace), and is currently aboard the Intelsat 40e satellite built by Maxar Technologies. The TEMPO Instrument Operations Center and the Science Data Processing Center are managed by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge.
For more information and updates on the TEMPO mission, you can visit the official NASA page [here](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/tempo/).
TEMPO represents a significant advancement in our ability to monitor and understand air quality from space. By providing real-time data on pollutants, it equips scientists and policymakers with the information necessary to make informed decisions for improving air quality and protecting public health. As the mission continues to develop and expand its capabilities, it stands as a testament to the power of international collaboration and scientific innovation in addressing global environmental challenges.
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