Report on the GOTHAAM Mission: Advancing Sustainable Development Goals through Atmospheric Research

Project Overview and Objectives

The Greater New York Oxidant Trace Gas Halogen and Aerosol Airborne Mission (GOTHAAM) represents a significant scientific initiative to analyze the atmospheric composition of the New York metropolitan area. This project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and led by Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), is the most extensive airborne campaign ever conducted to measure smog precursors in the region. The mission’s core objective is to understand the complex chemical processes that impact air quality, public health, and ecosystems, thereby contributing directly to several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This initiative exemplifies SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals, bringing together a consortium of researchers from over seven universities and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

The GOTHAAM mission’s research is intrinsically linked to achieving global sustainability targets. Its findings are expected to provide critical data for policies aimed at creating healthier and more sustainable environments.

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being: By investigating the formation of ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter—pollutants known to worsen asthma and heart disease—the project aims to provide the scientific basis for strategies that reduce air pollution and protect public health.
• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities: The research focuses on one of the world’s most complex urban atmospheres. The insights gained will be directly applicable to improving air quality management in New York and other major metropolitan areas globally, making cities safer, more resilient, and sustainable.
• SDG 13: Climate Action: The study of atmospheric chemistry, including aerosols and pollutants from sources like wildfire smoke, contributes to a broader understanding of factors influencing regional climate patterns.
• SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 15 (Life on Land): The mission explicitly examines the chemical interactions occurring where urban pollution meets the Atlantic Ocean and surrounding forested areas, providing data on how air pollutants affect marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

Methodology and Research Focus

To achieve its objectives, the GOTHAAM team conducted over 20 research flights over a six-week period using the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft, a flying laboratory equipped with state-of-the-art analytical instruments. The research design was structured to capture a comprehensive, high-resolution picture of the region’s atmospheric composition.

Key Areas of Investigation:

1. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): A central goal is to better understand the sources and chemical transformations of VOCs, which are critical precursors to smog. The study analyzes VOCs from a mix of sources, including traffic, industry, consumer products, and natural emissions from forests.
2. Daytime and Nighttime Chemistry: The project investigates atmospheric reactions under different conditions, including less-studied nighttime processes involving nitrate radicals and chlorine compounds from sea salt, which can create pollutant reservoirs that contribute to next-day smog formation.
3. Environmental Interfaces: Flights were designed to crisscross diverse environments—from dense urban centers to forests and the open ocean—to analyze the unique chemical mixing that occurs at these interfaces.

Expected Outcomes and Global Impact

The data collected by the GOTHAAM mission will establish a critical baseline for understanding pollutants and ozone formation in a major urban coastal region. The analysis, expected to emerge over the coming year, will provide actionable insights for policymakers and environmental agencies.

By improving models of urban air chemistry, the project’s findings will enhance the ability of cities worldwide to forecast air quality, mitigate pollution events, and protect public health. This directly supports the global agenda for sustainable urban development as outlined in the SDGs, ensuring that scientific advancement translates into healthier and more sustainable communities for all.

1. SDGs Addressed in the Article

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

  The article directly connects air pollution to negative health outcomes. It states that pollutants like smog and secondary pollutants “can worsen asthma and heart disease.” The overarching goal of the GOTHAAM project is to generate insights that can “help protect public health both locally and globally,” which aligns with the core mission of SDG 3.

• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

  The research is explicitly focused on New York City, described as “one of the most complex urban atmospheres in the world.” The study aims to understand and create a “baseline picture of pollutants and ozone” in this densely populated metropolitan area. This effort to analyze and ultimately manage urban air quality is central to making cities more sustainable and healthier for their inhabitants, as outlined in SDG 11.

• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

  The article highlights that the GOTHAAM project is a large-scale collaborative effort. It is “funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)” and “brings together researchers from more than seven universities and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).” This multi-stakeholder partnership, which mobilizes scientific expertise, technology (the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft), and financial resources to tackle a complex environmental problem, exemplifies the spirit of SDG 17.

2. Specific SDG Targets Identified

• Target 3.9: Substantially reduce deaths and illnesses from pollution

  This target aims to “substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination.” The GOTHAAM project directly supports this by studying the formation of smog and other pollutants that the article identifies as causes of worsened asthma and heart disease. Understanding these chemical processes is the first step toward creating policies to reduce exposure and illness.

• Target 11.6: Reduce the environmental impact of cities

  This target calls to “reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality.” The entire GOTHAAM mission is an exercise in paying special attention to air quality. By conducting “the largest airborne campaign ever conducted to measure precursors to smog in the area,” the project is gathering the necessary data to understand and eventually mitigate the city’s adverse environmental impact related to air pollution.

• Target 17.16: Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development

  This target seeks to “Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources.” The article describes GOTHAAM as a partnership involving multiple universities, a national research center (NCAR), and a federal funding agency (NSF). This collaboration mobilizes shared knowledge and advanced technology to address the challenge of urban air pollution, with findings that will be “directly translatable to other metropolitan areas around the world.”

3. Indicators for Measuring Progress

• Indicators for Target 3.9

  The article explicitly mentions indicators used to measure air pollution linked to health. It notes that in 2021, “7 of 11 monitoring stations in the region recorded ozone levels above federal health standards.” It also refers to the decline in “fine particulate pollution.” These measurements of specific pollutants in the ambient air serve as direct indicators for assessing the risk of illnesses from air pollution.

• Indicators for Target 11.6

  The project is designed to measure a wide range of specific chemical compounds that indicate urban air quality. The article lists these as “precursors to smog,” “oxidant trace gas,” “halogen,” “aerosol,” and “volatile organic compounds (VOCs).” The data collected on the concentration and interaction of these substances provides a detailed, high-resolution picture of the city’s air quality, which is a direct measure of its environmental impact.

• Indicators for Target 17.16

  The article implies indicators of partnership through its description of the project’s structure. The indicators are the existence and scale of the collaboration itself: a project “funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)” that involves “more than seven universities and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).” The mobilization of significant shared resources, such as the “NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft,” is another tangible indicator of this effective scientific partnership.

4. Summary Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: news.stonybrook.edu