NASA and Universidad Nacional de Colombia will measure sprays in Colombia

Professor Rodrigo Jiménez from the department of Environmental engineering of Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, and Professor Álvaro Bastidas, an Associate Professor in the School of Physics in Medellin, are leading this project.

The device will be functioning by the end of October and will be initially located in the campus of Bogota for six months; after that, it will be rotated among different cities in which Universidad Nacional de Colombia is present.

This instrument provides valuable information regarding microscopic particles that float in the air, known as sprays. "For validating the information coming from the satellite (information about the weather, global warming, etc), the photometer is pointed to the sun and with its capacity, the amount of spray that affect the atmosphere and the amount of light that reaches the ground are detected. With this data, the properties in the particles such as size and movement can be predicted. This aspect is very important for public health, since materials from soot, such as those from fuels, are too small and can affect the respiratory system to the point of generating lung cancer" asserted Jiménez.

Current quality measures on the air, made in Colombia, allow quantifying the concentration of particles at ground-level; however, the processes of the atmosphere during night time, when particles accumulate in the upper part of the atmosphere and circulate next day, still remain unknown. For this reason, a polluted day can result in a more polluted day a few hours later.

The measures obtained with this instrument can have an important effect, both at an urban and rural level. "Apart from predicting climatic change, it allows establishing public health policies aligned with the composition and distribution of the sprays. These microscopic atmospheric particles have a dynamic with some characteristics: they can increase size, coagulate, and fall into the floor. For this reason, they have to be monitored" mentioned Jiménez.

This device will be sent each year to USA for its maintenance and calibration. Thus, with this instrument, Colombia will be part of a global network led by NASA called Aeronet.