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[NASA] Air Pollution’s Daily Pulse Over the Northeast

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  3. Air Pollution’s Daily Pulse…
 


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7:05 am
3:05 pm

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TEMPO detected high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide during the morning commute at 7:05 a.m. local time on May 18, 2026 (left), along the New York-Washington corridor. The instrument detected lower levels of the gas at 3:05 p.m. (right), after chemical reactions involving nitrogen dioxide had contributed to elevated ozone concentrations in the afternoon.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

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TEMPO detected high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide during the morning commute at 7:05 a.m. local time on May 18, 2026 (left), along the New York-Washington corridor. The instrument detected lower levels of the gas at 3:05 p.m. (right), after chemical reactions involving nitrogen dioxide had contributed to elevated ozone concentrations in the afternoon.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison
7:05 am3:05 pm

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TEMPO detected high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide during the morning commute at 7:05 a.m. local time on May 18, 2026 (left), along the New York-Washington corridor. The instrument detected lower levels of the gas at 3:05 p.m. (right), after chemical reactions involving nitrogen dioxide had contributed to elevated ozone concentrations in the afternoon.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison
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TEMPO detected high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide during the morning commute at 7:05 a.m. local time on May 18, 2026 (left), along the New York-Washington corridor. The instrument detected lower levels of the gas at 3:05 p.m. (right), after chemical reactions involving nitrogen dioxide had contributed to elevated ozone concentrations in the afternoon.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

7:05 am

3:05 pm


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Image Details

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detected high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide during the morning commute at 7:05 a.m. local time on May 18, 2026 (left), along the New York-Washington corridor.The instrument detected lower levels of the gas at 3:05 p.m. EDT (right), after chemical reactions involving nitrogen dioxide had contributed to elevated ozone concentrations in the afternoon. NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison.

More than 35 million people live along the New York–Washington corridor and breathe the region’s air. While air quality has

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in recent decades, outbreaks of
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remain common, particularly in the warm summer months, when the chemical reactions that produce the pollutant accelerate and stagnant air allows ozone to accumulate.

A reminder of this seasonal phenomenon came earlier than usual in 2026, when a

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prompted the New York State Department of Health and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to issue a
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on May 17 over concerns about ozone. The
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advisory warned young people, older adults, and those working or exercising outdoors to limit activity due to ozone’s respiratory and cardiovascular health impacts.

As expected, ground-based air-quality sensors operated by state and federal agencies showed ozone reaching

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for sensitive groups on May 18, something that typically happens
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. Meanwhile, NASA’s
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(Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) instrument observed the event from
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22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) above the equator, a unique vantage point that allows the sensor to collect frequent observations of air pollution.

TEMPO detects

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(NO2), a gas emitted by burning fuels, particularly by motor vehicles, that contributes to ozone formation. “There’s often a clear and interesting pattern in TEMPO’s nitrogen dioxide data during ozone alert days,” said Hazem Mahmoud, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s
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at Langley Research Center. “We see high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide during the early morning commute that drop off sharply in the late afternoon as ozone increases.”

The decline occurs as sunlight fuels

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involving nitrogen dioxide,
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, and oxygen that lead to ozone formation. By late afternoon, these reactions deplete much of the available nitrogen dioxide, slowing ozone production until the cycle begins again the next day.

The pair of images above underscores the pattern. The image on the left was acquired at 7:05 a.m. local time when nitrogen dioxide concentrations were high during the morning commute. By 3:05 p.m. (right), most of the nitrogen dioxide had declined substantially, and

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levels were elevated (below). Meanwhile,
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appear to have transported the remaining nitrogen dioxide slightly to the west. Note that the data shown is
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, and processing methods are still being refined.

Sensors on earlier polar-orbiting satellites, such as

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(Ozone Monitoring Instrument) and
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(Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument), sampled nitrogen dioxide over New York once per day. After its launch in 2023, TEMPO began providing data every hour, allowing researchers to track the evolution and dispersion of air pollution at much finer time scales. 

“TEMPO is helping fill data gaps between ground stations and allowing us to ask new questions,” Mahmoud said. The mission provides data that can improve not only air quality forecasts during crisis situations, such as wildfires, but also the atmospheric models used to forecast the daily rhythms of urban pollution. Such models help researchers understand how natural factors such as winds, humidity levels, and air temperatures influence pollution plumes over the course of a day.

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TEMPO detected elevated ozone concentrations in an area extending from New York City to Washington, D.C., at 5:05 p.m. on May 18, 2026.
NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

TEMPO also detects ozone directly, but determining how much of that ozone is near the surface versus higher in the atmosphere can be challenging. Most of Earth’s ozone resides in the

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, well above the troposphere, where people live and breathe. At times, however, stratospheric
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into the troposphere. During events known as
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, it can even descend far enough to affect air quality at the surface and add to the ozone produced at ground level.

By combining TEMPO observations with

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, researchers are studying the processes that influence the distribution of ozone vertically in the atmosphere. On May 18, NASA’s ground-based
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(TOLNet) in New York City recorded high concentrations of ozone near the surface, indicating that TEMPO was detecting mostly surface-level ozone associated with urban emissions and not ozone aloft, said Mahmoud.

However, on May 19, the same sensor observed a layer of ozone descending from above 5 kilometers (3 miles), he added, a clue that some of the ozone TEMPO detected that day may have originated in the stratosphere. “This is the type of information that leads to better air quality forecast models and more accurate alerts,” Mahmoud said. “Alerts can affect tens of millions of people and lead to disruptions in school, sports, and other activities, so it’s essential that they be as accurate as possible.”

On June 6, New York authorities

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for ozone. People interested in following the event can access daily near-real-time TEMPO observations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and other gases on NASA’s
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, on an interactive Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
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, and on
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.   

NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using TEMPO data from

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. Story by Adam Voiland.

Downloads

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Nitrogen Dioxide – May 18, 2026 7:05 AM EDT

JPEG (2.52 MB)

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Nitrogen Dioxide – May 18, 2026 3:05 PM EDT

JPEG (2.25 MB)

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Ozone – May 18, 2026 5:05 PM EDT

JPEG (2.10 MB)

References & Resources

  • Acker, S., et al. (2025)
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    . Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 25(14), 8271-8288.
  • City of New York (2024)
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    . Accessed June 9, 2026.
  • Energy Education,
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    . Accessed June 10, 2026.     
  • Environmental Protection Agency (2026, May 13)
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    ? Accessed June 9, 2026.
  • Environmental Protection Agency (2025, July 10)
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    . Accessed June 9, 2026.
  • Holloway, T., et al. (2025)
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    . Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 75(6), 429-463.  
  • Lee, J., et al. (2024)
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    . JGR Atmospheres, 129(4),e2023JD039877.
  • NASA (2026)
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    . Accessed June 9, 2026.
  • NASA
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    . Accessed June 9, 2026
  • NASA Air Quality (2026)
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    . Accessed June 9, 2026.
  • NASA Air Quality (2026)
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    . Accessed June 9, 2026.
  • NASA Earthdata (2024, May 3)
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    . Accessed June 9, 2026.
  • New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (2026, May 18)
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    . Accessed June 9, 2026.
  • Zhang, J., et al. (2026)
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    . Geophysical Research Letters, 53(2),e2025GL117523.

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