WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2021) The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday it plans to install three air sampling inlets on a single Boeing 737 jet to test plans for a global network that would monitor greenhouse gases with sensors on passenger aircraft.
"This is a first step toward an expansion of NOAA's global atmospheric sampling network to include commercial airliners in the U.S. and International airlines in these critical data-gathering efforts," a NOAA press release said.
In the coming weeks, scientists with NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory will oversee installation of three different air sampling inlet configurations on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 jet, the release said.
"Standardizing the location and installation of greenhouse gas monitoring instruments on commercial aircraft will be an important first step in expanding our sampling network to provide data for scientists and policymakers interested in understanding greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change," lead scientist for NOAA's aircraft measurements program, Colm Sweeney, said in the release.
NOAA hopes installation of sensors on commercial aircraft will augment data from its 50 ground based sampling stations around the world and from private aircraft hired by the agency, according to the release.
