Earth's last frontier: The atmosphere

By School of Engineering and Applied Science on July 15, 2010, 4:57 p.m.

Mark Zondlo's team travels from pole to pole in a superfast research aircraft mapping Earth's atmosphere with a new laser-based sensor that measures water vapor. Read more.

Princeton engineering professor Mark Zondlo and his team of researchers are mapping Earth's atmosphere from pole to pole in search of the most comprehensive picture yet of greenhouse gases and how they affect climate. The team is traveling in a superfast research aircraft that includes a new laser-based sensor invented by Zondlo's team to measure water vapor throughout the atmosphere.

Mark Zondlo is up in the clouds .

Taofik Kolade '08 reinterprets video shot by engineering professor Mark Zondlo and his team as they traveled in a superfast research aircraft mapping Earth's atmosphere.

For summer students, the focus is on lasers .

A group of researchers gathers for a conference call to share the details of their current projects: David Tersegno discusses a new sensor system that may further the understanding of cloud formation; Anjali Bhatt describes efforts to optimize special lasers that detect minute amounts of substances in the air and human breath; and Nevin Raj explains work with a new kind of material that bends light "backward." They may be engaged in research projects on the cutting edge of engineering, but Tersegno and Bhatt haven't finished college yet -- and Raj is still in high school.

Probing air pollution with laser sensors .

Mark Zondlo, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton University and its Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, develops tools to measure air pollution in more sophisticated and nimble ways than previously possible.

Video feature: In the field, graduate students lead air-quality sensor research .

A team of five Princeton graduate students is leading a year-long field research project using new laser sensors to measure pollutants with unprecedented sensitivity.

On the road in Hawaii, Princeton team seeks clearer picture of volcanic air quality .

Mark Zondlo team’s recent research in Hawaii will help public health officials and scientists better understand how volcanoes influence air quality and how changes in air quality might be associated with health effects.

Vehicles, not farms, are likely source of smog-causing ammonia .

Agriculture has long been blamed for smog-causing ammonia in the atmosphere, but vehicle tailpipes actually are a more important source of ammonia's contribution to the haze that hovers over big cities, according to new research by a team including Princeton engineers.