Scientists from several universities, led by John Mak of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), have launched a major airborne study to examine air quality above New York City. The project, called the Greater New York Oxidant Trace Gas Halogen and Aerosol Airborne Mission (GOTHAAM), is funded by the National Science Foundation and involves more than seven academic institutions as well as the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Over a six-week period during the summer, researchers conducted more than 20 flights using the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft. This flying laboratory was equipped with specialized instruments such as mass spectrometers, particle analyzers, and laser sensors designed to detect hundreds of chemical compounds in real time. The team included SoMAS Professor Daniel Knopf, SoMAS Dean Paul Shepson, and Christine Gilbert, an assistant professor in both the School of Communication and Journalism and SoMAS.
“GOTHAAM is an intensive New York City-centric intensive field campaign that really focuses on the unique set of circumstances in this region,” said Mak. “The population and industrial strength coupled with its location next to huge swaths of active forested areas, as well as being adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, means you have three distinct areas all mixing together. In addition, we now have wildfire smoke to contend with regularly. This leads to a wide range of chemical processes that we don’t fully understand. We want to understand those processes and the products, and how they impact our lives. The understanding we gain from this study will be directly translatable to other metropolitan areas around the world.”
The research comes amid ongoing air pollution challenges in the New York metropolitan area. In 2021, most regional monitoring stations recorded ozone levels above federal health standards during summer months. While fine particulate pollution has declined over recent decades due to regulatory efforts, other sources—such as vehicle emissions, industrial activity, consumer products, and gases released by vegetation—continue to contribute to smog formation.
To address these issues, GOTHAAM aims to improve understanding of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which play a key role in creating ground-level ozone and particulate matter. VOCs in New York originate from various sources including cars, buildings, industry sites, consumer goods like cleaning sprays or paints, and trees along highways or city edges.
The project also examines nighttime atmospheric chemistry—a less studied but important factor—where reactions involving nitrate radicals and chlorine compounds can form reservoir species overnight that release pollutants at sunrise.
“As you can imagine, it takes some time to figure out what all these data are telling us,” said Mak. “Each instrument group — and there are about a dozen different groups — is tasked with getting their specific final data set ready for analysis, which takes a few months, and then we will be using different tools to figure out what is going on. The process will take many months.”
Researchers expect results from GOTHAAM will start emerging within a year but anticipate that its findings will provide valuable baseline information about urban pollutants for years ahead.