NASA to lead large air pollution study

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, March 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency plans the largest airborne study ever conducted of air pollution in the Arctic Circle's atmospheric chemistry and changing climate.

Three NASA research aircraft and more than 100 scientists will be based in Fairbanks, Alaska, next month to investigate the "arctic haze" of air pollution that forms from sources across the Northern Hemisphere.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said its experiment -- Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites, or ARCTAS -- -- will use aircraft and satellites to study the arctic atmosphere, sampling pollution particles and gases to understand their origins and how they influence climate across the region.