Real-time Ozone and Particulate Measurements on a News Helicopter

The greater Salt Lake basin experiences significant air quality issues due to boundary layer buildup of ozone during summer and secondary particulate matter during winter. A novel approach is used to measure the spatiotemporal distribution of these pollutants by deploying instrumentation packages on board a news helicopter, which typically flies during evening commute hours as well as breaking news events. The instrument packages are designed to be self-sustaining, so that the pilot only needs to apply power to the unit when the helicopter is in operation. Real-time communications are used to query the self-logging device and collect data in real-time. Software was developed to visualize the real-time and archived data via the web at http://meso2.chpc.utah.edu/gslso3s.

A research-grade ozone instrument was deployed during summer 2015 as part of a field campaign to study the distribution of boundary layer ozone in the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake. The ozone instrument was replaced with a particulate sensor leading into winter 2015-2016 to assess vertical distributions of particulate matter during periods of stable boundary layers. It is planned to replace the particulate sensor with the ozone sensor leading into summer 2016. Case studies from both summer and winter periods are provided.