Funded by the California Energy Commission, the California Air Pollution Profiling Study uses autonomous unpiloted aerial vehicles, or UAVs, to gather meteorological data as the aircraft fly through clouds and aerosol masses in Southern California, said scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego. Scripps is leading the study, which began its first sortie of data-gathering flights in April.

Scripps Professor Veerabhadran Ramanathan, the project's lead scientist, said the characteristics of Southern California climate and meteorology could make it especially prone to climate change consequences of air pollution.

"These monthly UAV flights will provide unprecedented data for evaluating how long-range transport of pollutants -- including ozone, soot and other particulates from the northwest United States, Canada, east Asia and Mexico -- mix with local pollution and influence our air quality and regional climate including the early melting of snow packs," said Ramanathan.

Data collection will continue through January, with the aircraft profiling atmospheric conditions at altitudes ranging between 2,000 and 12,000 feet.