A025-07
NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) Whole Air Sampling across the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Monday, 7 December 2020: 19:19
Virtual
Melissa M Yang1, Donald Ray Blake2, Alex Jarnot2, Simone Meinardi2, Gloria Weitz3, Brent Love3, Barbara Barletta2, Barbara Chisholm2, James H Flynn III4, Sergio Luiz Alvarez4, Travis Griggs5, Maya Zimmerman6, Jordan Zachmann7, MacKenzie Warner8, Gabriela Vidad9, Graham Trolley10, Jacob Schenthal11, Morgan Schachterle12, Everett Rzeszowski13, Dominick Ryan14, Amanda Rodell15, McKenna Price-Patak16, Elena Press17, Scarlet Passer18, Nathan Pappalardo19, Joseph Palmo20, David Moore21, An Li22, Jessica Kasamoto23, Tatiana Jimenez24, Amelia Hurst25, Kendra Herweck26, Paola Granados27, Katey Dong28, Walker Demel29, Ariana Deegan30, Mackenzie J Conkling31, John Carlson32, Joel Been33, Nicole Taylor34, Patrick R Sullivan35, Alexander Bruce MacDonald36, Jesse Bausell37, Dar A Roberts38, Raphael Martin Kudela34, Andreas Joel Beyersdorf39, Roya Bahreini40, Barry L Lefer41, Jack Kaye41, Hal B Maring42, Ryan M Stauffer43, Joseph Ryan Bennett1 and Emily L Schaller1, (1)National Suborbital Research Center, Palmdale, CA, United States, (2)University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States, (3)University of California - Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States, (4)University of Houston, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Houston, TX, United States, (5)University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States, (6)Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, United States, (7)Saint John's University, Collegeville, MN, United States, (8)Ripon College, Ripon, WI, United States, (9)Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, United States, (10)Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States, (11)Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States, (12)University of Colorado - Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, United States, (13)Bowdoin College, Earth and Oceanographic Science, Brunswick, ME, United States, (14)Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, (15)Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, United States, (16)Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States, (17)Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, (18)University of California - Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, (19)Pomona College, Claremont, CA, United States, (20)Amherst College, Amherst, MA, United States, (21)University of Albany, Albany, NY, United States, (22)University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States, (23)Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States, (24)Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States, (25)Univeristy of Connecticut, Mansfield, CT, United States, (26)Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY, United States, (27)University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, United States, (28)Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States, (29)Butler University, Indianapolis, United States, (30)University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States, (31)Centre College, Department of Physics, Danville, KY, United States, (32)Norwich University, Northfield, VT, United States, (33)Colorado School of Mines, Golden, United States, (34)University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, (35)University of Utah, Geography, Salt Lake City, UT, United States, (36)University of Arizona, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Tucson, AZ, United States, (37)University of California Santa Cruz, Ocean Sciences, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, (38)University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Geography, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, (39)NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, United States, (40)University of California Riverside, Environmental Sciences, Riverside, CA, United States, (41)NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, United States, (42)NASA-Scien Mission Directorate, Washington, DC, United States, (43)USRA at NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States
Abstract:
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to sample atmospheric gases during a period of very low industrial/human activity. Over 1000 Whole Air Samples were collected in over 30 cities and towns across the United States from April through July 2020 as part of the NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP). Sample locations leveraged the geographic distribution across the United States of the undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and NASA personnel associated with the internship program (44 people total). Each person collected approximately 24 air samples in their city/town with the goal of characterizing local emissions with time during the pandemic. Samples were collected in 2-Liter stainless steel evacuated canisters at approximately 2 meters above ground level. The canisters were shipped to the Rowland/Blake Laboratory at the University of California Irvine and analyzed for methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, non-methane hydrocarbons, and halocarbons using the gas chromatographic system described in Colman et al. (2001) and Barletta et al. (2002). Initial samples collected in April coincided with the peak of stay-at-home/social distancing orders across most of the United States while samples collected later in the spring and early summer reflect the easing of these measures in most locations. Overall trends in emissions with time across the United States during the pandemic (in several large metro areas as well as rural locations) will be discussed.
