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Press Releases Scientists at sea studying pollution's airborne path Gloria Rodriguez Boston Globe 1 August 2002 PORTSMOUTH - This is not your typical research vessel expedition. Instead of probing the depths of the ocean, scientists aboard the 274-foot Ronald H. Brown this month are looking skyward. They're measuring chemicals in the air and analyzing the data, conducting the first comprehensive study tracing how polluted air from industrial regions nationwide flows into New England, contaminating virgin forests and pristine beaches. More than 20 scientists, most from the University of New Hampshire and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are embarking on the ambitious New England Air Quality Study. "It's really different than anything that has been measured before," said chief scientist Timothy S. Bates, of NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, as he stood aboard the 274-foot research vessel that is plying the waters off the East Coast, loaded with scientific instruments to gather data. "It's something that previously has not been taken into account." The Ronald H. Brown, the NOAA's largest ship that has a radar capable of forecasting weather at sea, will travel the waters between Maine and New York compiling data until Aug. 10. The information will lay the groundwork for a follow-up study to be conducted during the summer of 2004. Researchers want to determine why the Northeast has some of the country's worst air quality. The ultimate goal is to find ways to decrease pollution and improve public health. Air pollution carried by wind travels from Boston, New York, and other large cities and has invaded areas such as New Hampshire's White Mountains and remote beaches along the Maine coast, scientists said. The spread of dirty air is one reason why the Northeast is known as "America's tailpipe." Scientists are measuring chemicals in the air and trying to understand how ocean winds interact with pollutants. In some instances, they said, sea breezes can actually help remove pollutants from the air. "What this kind of research is aimed at is helping understand the most effective things we can do" to improve the air, said NOAA deputy administrator James R. Mahoney. To compare air quality in different regions, the seven-level vessel has traveled to New York Harbor, Boston Harbor, and parts of Maine. But the cruise differs from most oceanography expeditions. "We come out here and say we're going to work off the coast and go where the wind is blowing," Bates said. "It adds new challenges for the crews and officers. Pretty soon the wind shifts, and we say, `We have to go a different direction.' It's something you can't predict." The scientists wake every day at about 6 a.m., eat breakfast at 7, and have a science meeting to discuss the day's plans. They conduct experiments and analyze data all day with breaks for lunch and dinner. After dinner they have another meeting to talk about what they found and about the next day's plans. Data is sent from the ship to the NOAA AeronomyLaboratory in Boulder, Colo., twice a day. Aeronomy is a science that dealswith the physics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere. In a small room onboard, Steven Brown of the Aeronomy Lab uses a laptop computer to analyze data from the "cavity ring-down spectrometer" he created, the only instrument known to measure the nitrogen in the air at night. Every five seconds, the device uses a laser and mirrors to measure compounds such as nitrate radicals (NO3), which the sunlight generally kills, giving scientists a glimpse of nighttime air quality. "It's very different from what happens during the day," Brown said. "The compounds present come out at night." On an outside deck, Marcy Vozzella, 25, a graduate student at UNH, watches as the mist chamber/ion chromatograph, her thesis project, works its magic to help find the source of pollution. Two tubes in the box switch off as they sample air every five minutes, recording the concentrations of nitric acid in the air. Analyzing nitric acid helps scientists determine the kinds of pollutants in the air. Being able to take frequent measurements is important because they can measure changes in the air over a shorter span of time, said Eric Scheuer, another UNH graduate student working with the instrument. "The air that comes to us comes from all parts of the country, therefore, by studying the air quality in this region, we can actually get an idea of what air quality problems look like across the country," said Robert W. Talbot, director of the AIRMAP Cooperative Institute and professor of earth science at UNH's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space. This story ran on page B3 of the BostonGlobe on 8/1/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company. |
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