Scientists monitor air pollution using this specialized laser - Earth.com

Scientists monitor air pollution using this specialized laser

07-17-2017


Scientists monitor air pollution using this specialized laser Today’s Video of the Day comes thanks to NASA Goddard and features a look at the specialized laser scientists use to monitor air pollution.

The laser is named CATS (Cloud Aerosol Transport System) and sits mounted to the International Space Station 249 miles above Earth. Air pollution is monitored at certain sites around Scotland 24 hours a day. There are many different ways of sampling the air to check how polluted it is. There are 5 main methods of sampling air quality: 1. Passive Monitoring Diffusion tubes absorb a specific pollutant from the ambient air – no power supply is needed

The iodine infrared laser and the carbon dioxide infrared laser are forced to emit spectral lines which fall on the infrared absorption bands of atmospheric pollutants.  It aslo minimizes interference between pollutants, and allows penetration of atmospheric water bands. The col- limation and high power outputs available from lasers permit transmission of the radiation over long straight paths through the atmosphere and over long folded paths in multiple-pass absorption cells.

The folded laser beam permits pol- lutant detection at a given location using a confined sample of air Monitoring emissions from high sources is promising when using multiwave lidars. A new software for estimating PM10 and PM2.5 share in the industrial emissions flare.· A technique developed by researchers at Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and Friedrich-Alexander University. Samplingair pollution is today quite simple because the introduction of small components specialized on this topic.

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By Rory Arnold, Earth.com

Credit: NASA Goddard

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