That can lead to faulty predictions, says Doddridge, an atmospheric chemist with UMCP's Department of Meteorology. In equipping their chartered Cessna, the team has installed two pencil-sized tubes, one made of Teflon and the other of stainless steel, in the leading edge of the port wing. Both act as miniature vacuum cleaner nozzles, sucking up the dirty air outside. The tubes lead to two suitcase-sized blue boxes strapped to the back seat with white nylon rope. One device measures ozone levels, the other carbon monoxide.
Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas produced by the burning of fuel.
The team's work is being paid for by the North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone, a consortium of government and other laboratories, and by the Electric Power Research Institute, a trade group for electric utilities. He hopes to get a larger grant, so he can charter a larger aircraft. Sun staff writer Dennis O'Brien contributed to this article.