Five engineers and air quality specialists from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) will join top National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists on board scientific research flights from Feb. 11 to 15 next week.
Their mission is to study the atmosphere in Metro Manila and its surrounding regions from space to the surface of the earth. DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Loyzaga said this assignment aims to build technical capacity and expertise for the agency.
The Philippine leg of the airborne field campaign is part of the Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality (ASIA-AQ), a partnership that brings together experts from NASA of the United States and DENR, in collaboration with the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), Manila Observatory, Ateneo de Manila University, and the University of the Philippines.
Leading the team is 29-year-old ambient air quality monitoring specialist Chadbert Nikko Aquino. Joining him are fellow engineers Paul Vallar (29), Brix Faustino (30), Billy William Franco (39), and Zeus Aragones (34), who have varying degrees of expertise in air quality monitoring as well.
They will be joining a team of lead scientists from the US with NASA Tropospheric Composition Program Scientist Dr. Barry Lefer at the helm. He is supported by Dr. James Crawford (ASIA-AQ Lead Scientist at NASA Langley Research Center) and Dr. Louisa Emmons (ASIA-AQ Forecasting Team Lead at the National Center for Atmospheric Research).
They will be collaborating with Atmospheric Scientists from the Manila Observatory’s Air Quality Dynamics Laboratory composed of Dr. James Bernard Simpas, Dr. Maria Obiminda Cambaliza, and Dr. Melliza Cruz.
Within the week, the DENR-EMB team will go on four research flights aboard two aircraft employed by ASIA-AQ, the NASA G-III and NASA DC-8, which are both based in Clark, Pampanga.
Secretary Loyzaga earlier stated that the collaboration with NASA, a first for the Philippines, “will help improve air quality models, provide accurate forecasts, and develop effective policies to ensure better air quality in the future.”
The campaign will also serve as a platform for the Philippines to understand its local air quality issues, improve its interpretation of satellite observations, and develop better air quality models.
Loyzaga, whose major thrust is environmental protection and natural resource conservation, underscores the critical role of strengthening partnerships with space agencies such as NASA and PhilSA to use satellite imagery and other space science and technology applications to support the country’s development of strategies for science-based, risk-informed, ethical, and equitable stewardship of the environment.