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SOUTH SALT LAKE — Parked alongside a Department of Environmental Quality air quality monitoring station, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and researchers from Weber State University are combining resources to drill down on the causes behind Utah's summer air pollution problem.
As Demetrios Pagonis, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Weber State University, explained, it's not always easy to narrow down the exact causes.
"Air quality is an incredibly complex chemical problem," Pagonis said. "And you need an enormous breadth of measurements in order to fully get a handle on it."
Thanks to funding from the National Science Foundation, Pagonis is working inside a trailer set up with high-tech monitoring systems. He, and a couple of assistants, will spend a total of six weeks looking at air quality changes throughout the day in South Salt Lake. They'll also take in samples brought to them from researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with the help of an outfitted scientific van.
"The more assets you can put in the same place at the same time, the more comprehensive your understanding can be," Pagonis said.
Carrie Womack, a research chemist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said their van can measure around 100 different chemical species at a time. Thirty-six canisters in the back take in samples from all over the city as different pollution sources are detected.
"Summertime ozone is a real concern," Womack explained. "And it is not really improving. And in some ways, it's getting a little bit worse. We are here to try and understand that problem better."
A Twin Otter plane will also follow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration van, taking in samples higher up in the atmosphere.
"It's looking down and helping us characterize the way the air masses are moving around the valley, as well as other chemical components that we wouldn't be able to get from the ground," Womack said.
Ozone pollution is formed in the atmosphere as certain chemicals interact with the sun's UV rays. Pagonis said they hope to find the biggest contributors and which ones can be corrected to better improve our air quality.
"We can't make informed policy decisions until we understand what exactly is happening chemically in our atmosphere," he said. "That way, we can fully understand our trade-offs, the consequences of policy choices, and try to make the maximum amount of benefit with the smallest amount of impact."
