Where Does NASA Fit?
According to the World Health Organization, air pollution contributes to millions of premature deaths around the world each year. Pollution also dirties our skylines and harms animal and plant life. NASA instruments — on satellites, planes, and the ground — constantly collect data on major pollutants. NASA-funded scientists track the sources and concentrations of these pollutants and their movement through the atmosphere. They provide managers and policymakers with Earth observations that can inform air quality standards, public policies, and government regulations for economic and human welfare.
Stories & News
Filling an Air Pollution Data Gap
Many cities have shortages of air quality monitors. NASA scientists have developed a tool called GEOS-CF that can help.
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Curious Universe Podcast: Tiny but Mighty
Aerosols! These tiny particles, generated by everything from desert dust storms to car exhaust, play a huge role in our atmosphere, affecting our health when we breathe them in and even changing the weather.
An Unequal Air Pollution Burden at School
Satellite observations show that students of color in the U.S. attend public schools with higher concentrations of air pollution than their white peers.
How Dust Affects the World’s Health
NASA research finds that a combination of windblown dust and human-caused particle pollution was associated with nearly 3 million premature deaths in 2019.
How NASA Sees the Air We Breathe
NASA and NOAA, among other agencies, worked together during the summer through the STAQS and AEROMMA missions to calibrate and validate NASA’s new TEMPO satellite. The satellite and missions combined aim to not only better measure air quality, and the major pollutants that impact it, but also to improve air quality, from street to stratosphere. This effort was documented during the August 2023 campaign leg, which took place over the Chicago region.
Learn MoreWhat is air quality?
Air Quality
NASA's Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring Pollution (TEMPO) mission is a partnership with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics to observe North America's air quality. Watch to learn what air quality is and why it's important we study it!
Learn MoreMissions and Campaigns
NASA engineers and scientists are testing new ways to study air quality from planes and satellites.
TEMPO
TEMPO, or Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution, is the first space-based instrument to continuously measure air quality above North America with the resolution of a few square miles. It is a collaboration between NASA and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO).
NASA Shares First Images from US Pollution-Monitoring Instrument
On August 24, NASA released the first data maps from its new instrument launched to space earlier this year, which now is successfully transmitting information.
TEMPO: Exploring Air Quality
TEMPO will observe air quality over North America. In this video, we explore air quality, air pollution, climate change, and how TEMPO can help us move our planet towards a brighter future!
New Instrument to Track Air Pollution Hourly, Shed Light on Disparities
NASA Technologies Receive Multiple Nods in TIME Inventions of 2023
Recent Science Results about air quality and pollution
Air Quality Data Pathfinder
Poor air quality is one of the largest global environmental and health threats. Instruments aboard NASA satellite and airborne platforms continually acquire data about these pollutants. Use this Data Pathfinder to guide you through the process of selecting and using datasets applicable to air quality.
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Other Air Quality Resources
Using Satellite Data to Solve Real-World Health and Air Quality Issues
NASA's Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team is using Earth observation data to help stakeholders solve health and exposure problems.
Getting to the Heart of the (Particulate) Matter
A first-ever partnership between NASA, epidemiologists and health organizations will use data from a new NASA space mission to study how particulate matter air pollution affects our health.
NASA promotes health and air quality around the world
The Health and Air Quality program area provides policymakers with Earth observations to enhance decision-making about public health, with a special focus on environmental health and infectious diseaes.