NASA Flight path over Valley, Photo from NASA

The problem being air quality in the Central Valley. It’s no surprise that the Valley has some of the worst air pollution in the state of California. One, this is a valley and pollutants happily settle in between mountain ranges. Two, this is the agricultural hub of the country (think dirty industry). Three, population continues to rise which means so does automobile use and other polluting factors. One, two, three equals bad air for you and me.


Ewww - Jan. 22nd over Fresno, Photo from NASA

If you have seen a large plane circling the Valley, have no fear, NASA is here! NASA’s DISCOVER-AQ (short for ‘Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality’) mission is a $30 million effort to measure air pollution. Flights began in January and will continue through February in order to get a sampling of agricultural and vehicle traffic areas from Bakersfield to Fresno. Findings will help our local Air District get a better idea of what is floating in our air, how to better predict pollution, and lay out the next steps for improvement efforts.

As the SJVCEO likes to say, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Let’s hope this serves as a piece to the puzzle and moves California that much closer to fixing our air quality.


Throwback! Fig and Olive, plus two siblings say 'please clean up the air for all future generations!', Photo from Fig and Olive's mom