Gardening for Ozone Air Quality

About

Air quality continues to be a public-health concern. Some of the nation's worst ozone pollution occurs in suburbs and even in parks that are downwind from sources of pollution. Ozone amounts can vary widely from one neighborhood to the next, and government ozone-monitoring stations cannot cover all of them. Experts are finding that gardeners can play an important role in monitoring ozone-related air quality. Anne Douglass and Jeannie Allen from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center presented a program titled "Gardening for Ozone Air Quality (Citizen Science)." Gardeners or others who are curious about ozone levels where they live or work, and are willing to make careful observations over time, can become involved in ozone monitoring. Some common and easily-grown plants show overexposure to ozone by characteristic tiny, evenly-spaced spots (stippling) on the upper sides of their leaves. Scientists and educators at NASA Langley Research Center collaborated with plant pathologists and the U.S. National Park Service to develop a protocol for citizen scientists and students to monitor ozone air quality by using a hand-held instrument called the ZikuaTM and observing ozone-sensitive plants. Douglass and Allen explain what NASA's Aura satellite is showing us about air quality on global and regional scales; how the ozone forms and how it affects people and plants; how certain species of common plants can show when ozone levels are high; how to use a ZikuaTM; and what's involved in…

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Library of Congress, in Library of Congress: talks and concerts

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Rights statement at the Library of Congress, as the Library of Congress states it.

Credit

Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

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