NASA again sends aircraft to Taiwan for Asia air quality research project

Taipei, March 13 (CNA) NASA deployed two research aircraft to Taiwan for a third time on Wednesday to help Taiwan improve its air quality management, the Ministry of Environment said in a statement.

Like previous flights on Feb. 15 and Feb. 28, NASA's Wednesday flights to Taiwan are part of its Seven SouthEast Asian Studies Mission, a project monitoring air quality across Asia, according to the statement.

The aircraft -- a DC8 and a GIII -- arrived at around 10:40 a.m. Wednesday and are set to operate for two hours in the skies above Taiwan, the ministry said.

Hsieh Ping-huei (謝炳輝), head of the ministry's Department of Monitoring and Information, told CNA that the DC8 flew from South Korea and the GIII from the Philippines.

According to the ministry, the GIII will be cruising at 28,500 feet (8,600 meters) between Pingtung and Taichung, while the DC8 is set to cuise at 2,000 feet between Tainan and Pingtung, and 46 feet at Tainan and Chiayi airports, to analyze the impacts of topography, atmospheric circulation, and pollutant sources on air quality.

The ministry said it will continue to collaborate with NASA to allow research aircraft to fly past Taiwan in the future.

It added that a total of 550 pollutant samples, including ozone, fine particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds have been collected in the past two deployments.