WEBVTT

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[bright tone]

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- Do you have any idea what
you're breathing right now?

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Sure, we call it air.

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But what is it really?

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What's in it?

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Oxygen?

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Sure.

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Nitrogen?

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Yep.

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But what else?

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Well, take a deep
breath as we dive

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into the wild world
of atmospheric science,

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next on "Real World."

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[exciting music]

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Air is all around us.

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And the different layers
of air surrounding

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the Earth, much like
the layers of an onion,

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make up the Earth's atmosphere.

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From what we breathe
on the surface,

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all the way out
to the boundaries of space,

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the atmosphere is super
important for life on Earth.

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Let's talk with Erika Wright,
a researcher and education

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specialist who studies
Earth's atmosphere.

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- Earth's atmosphere
is made up of particles

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and gases that layer
in mixtures.

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So we've got the troposphere.

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That's the layer closest
to us here on Earth.

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Then we've got
the stratosphere

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and the mesosphere

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and the thermosphere,

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as well as the exosphere.

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The troposphere is the layer

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closest to us here on Earth.

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And it includes the clouds
that we see in the sky

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as well as the air
that we breathe.

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And it's mostly
nitrogen and oxygen,

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as well some trace gases,

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the small particles

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in the air as well.

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Pollution is the things
in the air

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that are harmful
to human health

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as well as plant life
and our environment.

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They come
from both man-made things

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as well as sometimes natural
pollutants exist as well.

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And there are things
really that we just

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don't want to be breathing.

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They cause harm
to human health,

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as well as plant health
and our environment.

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Some natural causes
of pollution

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or air that we don't
like breathing

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include volcanoes
and wildfires,

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as well as, interestingly
enough, heat-stressed plants.

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Human causes include
vehicles and transportation,

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so trucks, planes,

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as well as fossil fuel
burning and industry

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can cause a lot
of pollution as well.

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Pollutants include nitrogen
dioxide, sulfur dioxide,

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formaldehyde,
as well as many other things

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that we don't like breathing,

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like aerosols
or small particles as well.

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- Now, we know the
atmosphere isn't just air.

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There are many natural
systems at play

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that help sustain
life on Earth.

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Sometimes natural and/or
man-made pollutants

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disrupt those systems,
making conditions

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less healthy for humans
and other living things.

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- So air pollution
and wildfires affect

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your lungs and your heart.

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It can affect rates of asthma.

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NASA has some campaigns where
scientists across the country

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work together.

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They can fly in airplanes
to study pollution.

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They can use satellites
that measure any spot

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on the Earth once a day.

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It also has a great new
instrument called TEMPO,

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or the Tropospheric Emission
Monitoring Of Pollution.

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TEMPO is an air quality
instrument from NASA

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that is sitting
on a satellite.

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And it's looking at North
America all day, every day.

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It can scan from East Coast
to West Coast every hour,

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giving us a much more
complete picture of what's

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happening in our air quality.

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And this ability to measure
on an hourly basis

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is really transformational
in how we study air quality.

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TEMPO sits in what's called
the geostationary orbit.

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That means it orbits
in synchronous, or together,

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with the Earth.

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And it allows it to look at
North America all the time.

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In order to do that,
it has to be out 22,000 miles

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from the Earth's surface.

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In the scientific community,

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we often use
the metric system.

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So in this case, kilometers.

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In order to get that, 1 mile
is equal to 1.61 kilometers.

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That means for TEMPO,

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our 22,000 miles
above the Earth's surface

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times 1.61 kilometers
gives us 35,420 kilometers

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above the Earth's surface.

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The electromagnetic spectrum is
all of the light that exists.

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And so some of that is
the light that we can see,

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but it also expands
beyond what

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we as human's eyes can see.

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You might be familiar
with it, with things

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like if you listen
to the radio in your car

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or have used a microwave.

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Those are other types
of light.

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So TEMPO is
a grating spectrometer

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that can measure
both the visible light

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that our eyes can see,
as well as what's

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called ultraviolet light.

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So it breaks that light up
into all those pieces

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and is then able to detect it

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and measure
that amount of light

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and see that signature
from each of those pollutants.

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- So it seems like all types
of pollutants in the atmosphere

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can cause issues
for life on Earth.

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Thankfully, NASA is
keeping an eye on this

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and gathering data
for us to keep us informed.

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But what's this data look like?

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And how can we use it
to help us stay safe?

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- TEMPO is really going to
help us better understand

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trends in air quality
or these changes over time.

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So for instance,
if you're looking

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at air quality
in your city today,

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you can see those trends
of how air pollution might

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rise during your morning
commutes or traffic,

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maybe drop a little bit
during the day

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and raise again
in the afternoon.

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And you can actually
see that in the data.

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TEMPO data is what
we call near real time.

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That means the scientific
and public community

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will have access to it
soon after we measure it.

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One really important
thing about TEMPO

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is that it allows us to
measure both where pollutants

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are being formed and how
they're moving

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across the country
and tracking that motion

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across the country.

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Knowing about poor
air quality is one

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of the most important things.

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And that allows us
to make better decisions

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for our own health.

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Maybe you don't
want to go for a run

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if it's really poor air
quality outside right now.

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So having that information
right up front

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can be really helpful
in protecting us.

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TEMPO allows us to learn lots
of exciting new things

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about the air that we breathe.

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TEMPO data is used
by air quality researchers

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who want to understand what's
happening in our atmosphere.

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It's used by health
researchers who want

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to understand the impacts
of poor air quality

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on human health.

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And it's used
by air quality forecasters

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who want to tell you what's
coming in your air quality.

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And most importantly, it's
used by the public, by you.

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You can access it yourself to
understand what's happening

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in your own community.

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- Campfires, cargo ships,
cars, and trains.

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Pollutants can come
from many different things,

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making it very tricky to track.

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This means that air pollution
is almost impossible to assess.

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But now,
thanks to TEMPO, NASA is

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able to monitor air quality
better than ever before.

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So this means we can all
breathe a little easier now.

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[sighs]

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See you next time
on "Real World."