Two NASA aircraft yesterday flew over Taiwan to collect air quality samples as part of a joint study with countries across the Asia-Pacific region, the Ministry of Environment said.
The four-hour mission would generate a 3D map of air pollution in central and southern Taiwan, the ministry wrote in a news release published hours before the survey.
Open-source flight trackers show that the NASA DC-8 and Gulfstream III took off from the Philippines and circled cities in Taiwan before landing in South Korea.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Ministry personnel joined a group of 40 researchers from 20 academic institutions in Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia and the US, among other participating countries, it said.
The object of the mission is to analyze the effect of terrain and atmospheric circulation on pollutant distributions, utilizing high-resolution data the aircraft are to glean in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung region, the ministry said.
This project represents a significant advance in the nation’s air pollution research from ground-based observations to a system that makes use of aerial samples, as well as the ministry’s first large-scale study since its administrative upgrade last year, it said.
The pair of US aircraft carried advanced instruments capable of measuring in real time the density and spread of pollutants, including volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and aerosols, the ministry said.
Two advanced ground-based observation stations stemming from a collaboration between Taiwan and NASA, and one vertical spectrometer station of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are among the instruments used to conduct the research, the ministry said.
The project also made use of other ground-based observation stations in the nation, uncrewed aerial vehicles, pulse Doppler radar, lidar, balloons, solar luminosity sensors and satellites, it said.
These instruments allow scientists to probe the distribution, physics and chemical composition of pollutants, the ministry said.
Taiwanese scientists and government personnel look forward to working with NASA to study the collected data, which would facilitate the ministry’s efforts to refine its air pollution reduction strategy, it said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at