SON-NR-MAC200-23-00510--.pdf

Statement of Need – NR-MAC200-23-00510

Background:

To support the NOAA’s AEROMMA field campaign to measure urban emissions that impact air quality and climate, the NOAA Air Resources Lab (ARL) will deploy a fully instrumented research aircraft in the Northeast Corridor (NEC) region from Washington, DC to New York City (NYC) to conduct the NEC Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas (NEC-AQ-GHG) study in summer 2023. An airborne instrument package will measure short-lived air pollutants and greenhouse gases emitted from Baltimore/Washington, NYC as well as Philadelphia. Data from the research flights will be used to characterize the meteorology and chemistry leading to air pollution events and emissions of GHGs from these urban areas. The NEC-AQ-GHG study will provide the scientific basis for effective air quality and climate policies.

Tasks to be performed or required items (with description):

NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) requires a vendor to conduct scientific research flights in the Baltimore-Washington, Philadelphia, and New York City/Long Island Sound regions in summer 2023 to measure concentrations of short- and long-lived trace pollutants in the atmosphere, with important scientific objectives including:

• To characterize spatial and temporal patterns of ozone and precursors during ozone exceedance events along with pre-exceedance conditions with a tie to key monitoring sites.

• To characterize spatial and temporal patterns of meteorological conditions (e.g., low-level jets, land-sea breeze, mixing heights, etc.) during ozone events.

• To investigate emission of NOx, CO, CH4, and VOCs from these urban areas and compare to emission inventories.

The NEC-AQ-GHG 2023 study will require ~50 hours and approximately 13 science flights. We will choose flight plans in coordination with other airborne platforms and participating agencies. The measurements from these flights will augment data from other airborne platforms and ground monitoring sites along the NEC from Washington, DC to NYC area. Each flight will last 3 to 4 hours, and we expect to fly about 4-5 missions out of MD/CT plus ferry flights. Emissions of air pollutants and GHGs can be calculated based on the mass balance approach as well as enhancements ratios among the air pollutants.

The successful vendor must be capable of supplying an aircraft with a minimum instrument payload of approximately 500 pounds, an effective range of approximately 600 nm, and an endurance of approximately 3-4 hours, with one pilot and one scientist (a non-federal employee, e.g., a scientist from University of Maryland) aboard. Federal employees from NOAA ARL may help with the pre-flight preparation and post-flight tasks while the aircraft is on ground. The vendor must measure and report all relevant wind, meteorological, and aircraft attitude (roll, pitch, yaw, altitude, true airspeed, ground speed, position) parameters. Position, attitude, and velocity measurements should be made with differential GPS techniques. ARL staff will be responsible for integrating the instrument payload into the aircraft, with technical and engineering support from the vendor, as needed. To the extent practicable, all measurements should be calibrated with NIST-traceable instruments and techniques.

Most significantly, the successful vendor must supply an inlet system, certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, to direct ambient air to the chemical measurement systems via manifold tubing, or similar. The preferred location of this inlet is at and well ahead of the nose of the aircraft, to allow the sampling of air parcels uninfluenced by turbulence or aircraft engine exhaust.

Deliverables:

The vendor will conduct approximately 12 research flights (~4 hours each flight, totaling 50 flight hours), including about five flights to New York City, during the calendar year of 2023. The flight crew will help ARL scientists to collect meteorological and chemical data during those flights to evaluate emission inventories of GHGs and air pollutants from urban areas and will deliver to ARL data sets containing all measured platform parameters (meteorology, winds, 3-dimensional aircraft position and attitude, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds).

Period of performance: From May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024.