NASA's Synergistic TEMPO Air Quality Science (STAQS) mission aimed to integrate satellite observations from the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) satellite with traditional air quality monitoring to improve understanding of air quality science and enhance societal benefits. STAQS was conducted during summer 2023, targeting urban areas, primarily Los Angeles, CA, New York City, NY, and Chicago, IL. One flight day was dedicated to Toronto, ON. Through multiple overpasses of these areas each day, STAQS aimed to map nitrogen dioxide (NO2), formaldehyde (HCHO), ozone (O3), aerosols, and greenhouse gasses (GHGs). This allowed changes in air quality to be sampled through the day, similar to TEMPO data products, but at a higher resolution. Two aircraft were outfitted with remote sensing payloads: the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Gulfstream-V (G-V) and the NASA Langley Research Center's (LaRC's) Gulfstream-III. Along with the two aircraft, STAQS also incorporated ground-based tropospheric ozone profiles from the NASA Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet), measurements from Pandora spectrometers, and leveraged existing networks operated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state air quality agencies.

During STAQS, collaborations with other ongoing air quality studies including the NOAA Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) field campaign (in the same target areas as STAQS) and the NOAA Coastal Urban Plume Dynamics Study (CUPIDS) (Acdan et al., 2024, Judd et al., 2022) provided a synergistic observing system. STAQS primary goal was to improve the current understanding of air quality science using TEMPO observations.

TEMPO was launched on April 7, 2023, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. TEMPO's goal is to monitor major air pollutants across North America every daylight hour at high special resolution at a geostationary orbit (GEO). The primary mission objectives of TEMPO involve understanding the dynamics of air qyality and pollution sources. The first images from the instrument were sent back on August 2, 2023 (click here to view the TEMPO gallery). TEMPO is a collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical observatory and NASA, supported by the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD).

Note: The temporal coverage listed is for the entirety of the STAQS campaign and not an extensive list. The following is a more in depth breakdown of the important date ranges for STAQS:

• 05/10/23 - 11/17/23: Aircraft observations**
• 08/02/23 - Present: TEMPO observations
• 06/24/23 - 08/26/23: STAQS flights were conducted

**Data prior to the TEMPO launch were for air quality investigations.