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I think one of the
things that's really special about this

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visualization is that it's showing
this is new and really complex

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part of our model,
which is atmospheric chemistry.

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One of the issues,
I think, with atmospheric chemistry

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is that it's so complicated and it changes
so rapidly on a short scale.

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We're not necessarily able
to observe it all the time

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everywhere.

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So that's where models come in
by merging models and satellite data.

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We get a much fuller picture of what's
going on throughout the atmosphere.

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We can see gases that we couldn't see
with satellites alone.

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We can see the parts of the atmosphere
column that we really need to know,

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like the nose level
contributions of pollutants that we need

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to communicate to our policy makers
to protect people's health.

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So what we are seeing is visualization

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of the composition of the atmosphere
as it relates to air pollution.

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There are hundreds of chemicals of that
all contributes to those pollutants.

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And you can see and this visualization

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is really what the computer model does.

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Like underneath
there are hundreds of chemicals.

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They all react to each other.

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It's a huge dating pool.

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And all of the chemicals
date each other all the time.

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So even though these chemicals,
some of them are present

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only at these very dilute concentrations,
they're actually quite important.

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So we have to really track
all of these different molecules

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be able to get at those pieces
that people really need.

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The pieces of information
that affect human health.

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We rely on computer models to gain

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additional insights on where is it formed?

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Where is it destroyed?

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What are the mechanisms
and how it is formed?

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But also how can it be mitigated.

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There's all this interesting stuff

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going on all around us
that we're not necessarily aware of.

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And so this simulation is really just

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trying to illustrate
what's going on with those gases.

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But by doing so many of them illustrate
how complex their interactions are

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and how many things are going on, even if
we're not aware of them all the time,

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Ten years
ago, we couldn't do anything like this.

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So this is really a revolutionary type
of approach

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to be able to combine the satellite
and the model.

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This is a really exciting new frontier
for us.

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Right?

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So what we are seeing in the animation

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is visualization
of the composition of the atmosphere

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and how all the chemicals interact

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with each other.

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As it relates to air pollution.

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So in order to typically
when we talk about air pollution,

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we think about a couple of key pollutants.

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This is ozone, nitrogen dioxide,
uh, fine particulate matter.

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Uh, but underneath
that there are hundreds of chemicals

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that all contribute to those pollutants

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and how they interact with each other

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and how they sort of influence each other.

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That's
what you simulate in a computer model.

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And what you can see in this visualization

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is really what the computer model does
sort of like underneath all the

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kind of like it's a huge dating pool

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and all of the chemicals,
they do each other all the time.

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Ozone typically
is sort of like considered a little bit

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the Holy Grail of atmospheric chemistry,
because in order to get it right,

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you have to get a lot
of the other chemicals right

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because they all influence ozone

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So we start

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and we end with ozone
because it's really kind of like

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the central
the species in atmospheric chemistry.

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It protects life on earth,
in the stratosphere with the ozone layer.

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But it's also a pollutant
when it's at surface level.

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So it's so toxic to humans,
but also to the vegetation.

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So it's very important that aspect.

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But also chemically, it's
very complicated.

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It interacts
with a lot of the other chemicals.

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In order to get it right in the model,
you have to get a lot of

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the other chemicals right.

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So it's sort of like the holy grail
of atmospheric.

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Chemistry in many ways.

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The chemistry in the atmosphere
is very complex.

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There are hundreds of chemicals
they all react to of each other.

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And one of the most
challenging aspects of it

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is that they have very different lifetimes

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And so there are a couple of species
in the animation

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that we know that they are carcinogenic,
and formaldehyde is actually one of them.

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And I think that it's in the hydrocarbons.

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But one of the issues,
I think, with atmospheric

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chemistry is that, um,
because it's so complicated,

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and it changes so rapidly

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on our short scale,
we don't necessarily care.

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We're not necessarily able
to observe it all the time everywhere.

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And so we rely on computer models
to gain additional insight.

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So where is it formed?

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Where is it destroyed?

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What are the mechanisms
and how it is formed?

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But also how can kind of be mitigated,
let's say, if we changed emissions

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or if we even just emit things
at a different time during the day?

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How would that change the formation of the

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air pollution?

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And so you need the model because
those questions, they're so complicated.

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Um, so you can just wrap your head around
how ozone.

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Is formed to really need a computer model
to understand that.

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My name is Christoph Keller.

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I'm a research scientist at NASA's
Goddard goes

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to global warming and a simulation of.

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Perfect

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I think one of the things that's
really special about this visualization

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is that it's showing there's this new
and really complex part of our model.