Upwind-Downwind Drone Vertical Profiles Quantify Urban Effects on Multi-Pollutant Composition in Tucson’s 0-120 m AGL Mixing Layer
Environmental Studies- Grade:
- 10
- Teacher:
- Hunter Jones
Fixed air-quality stations measure pollutants at ground level, but the lowest part of the atmosphere is a mixing zone where concentrations vary with altitude. This study used a lightweight drone-based sensor system to measure vertical profiles (5 m–120 m AGL) and evaluate how Tucson modifies the pollutant content of air masses transported across the city. A 104 g sensor package flown on a DJI Mini 2 sampled CO₂, CO, NH₃, NO₂, PMₓ, temperature, humidity, and pressure at 1 Hz. Flights were conducted at upwind and downwind locations along a common airstream on three days in February 2026. Pollutant values were summarized by altitude and compared between sites. CO₂ and PMₓ increased downwind on all three days. NO₂ showed mixed results, including large increases on one day, while CO and NH₃ did not show consistent increases. Comparisons between 5 m measurements, simulating a ground-monitoring station, and full air-column averages showed that ground-level monitoring does not fully represent vertical pollutant distribution. These findings support the use of low-cost drone profiling as a practical method for collecting vertical air-quality data.
This is the first drone project I’ve ever seen that collected viable on the variables you chose to measure. Would be interesting to compare results during the summer.