NASA DC-8 Aircraft Flies Low Over Pasadena Conducting Air Quality Research

On Saturday for the second time, residents of Pasadena witnessed an unusual sight in the daytime sky: a very low-flying NASA DC-8 jet aircraft. The plane was reportedly making research flights for NOAA’s Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) project.

NASA engineers have equipped the DC-8 with 30 different instruments, each of which will take measurements of air quality, air chemistry, and weather conditions while in flight. At times, the plane has been known to drop as low as 1,000 feet.

“Flew same route two days, about 2K feet when it went over us,” one local wrote on Pasadena Now’s Facebook page. “Some people were concerned…”

Data gathered from these flights will be combined with ground observations and satellite images to help NOAA scientists better understand the sources of air pollution in large cities as well as how that urban pollution can spread and impact rural areas.

The goal of the AEROMMA project is to improve air quality forecasts as well as climate models that take air pollution into account. This research is crucial in understanding and mitigating the effects of air pollution on the environment and on the health of local populations, NASA has said.