CAR Discover AQ Air Quality L1 V1 (CAR_DISCOVERAQ_L1C) at GES DISC

DISCOVER-AQ, a NASA Earth Venture program funded mission, stands for Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality.
In recent years, progress in reaching air quality goals has begun to plateau for many locations. Furthermore, near-surface pollution is one of the most challenging problems for Earth observations from space. However, with an improved ability to monitor pollution from satellites from DISCOVER-AQ, scientists could make better air quality forecasts, more accurately determine the sources of pollutants in the air and more closely determine the fluctuations in emissions levels. In short, the more accurate data scientists have at hand, the better society is able to deal effectively with lingering pollution problems.

DISCOVER-AQ项目，隶属于NASA地球探索计划，全称为从柱状和垂直分辨率观测中获取有关地表条件的信息（Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality）。近年来，众多地区在实现空气质量目标方面已逐渐达到平台期。此外，近地表污染是空间地球观测领域最具挑战性的问题之一。然而，随着DISCOVER-AQ卫星对污染监测能力的提升，科学家们能够更精准地进行空气质量预报，更准确地判定空气污染物来源，并更细致地监测排放水平的波动。简言之，科学家手中所拥有的数据越精准，社会在有效应对长期存在的污染问题方面就越具备优势。