Thursday, February 23, 2012

Uintah Basin Winter Ozone Study

For the last week and a half, and will end up being two weeks, I've been in the Uintah Basin, living out of a lovely hotel room and spending long days working.  I figured since most people don't know what it is I'm doing, I'll do a little post about it, and attach a video that another group who is out here made about what it is. 
The Uintah Basin has a really bad ozone problem.  Ozone is 3 oxygen molecules.  It is also extremely volatile and will attack your eyes, nose, throat, etc.  Generally, you see high ozone in areas with a lot of population and pollution.  Think LA smog.   Well, the Uintah Basin is very rural and has a lot of oil and gas fields running the economy. 
What I am doing is helping study where the ozone is coming from and what other compounds are out there that help form ozone.  I have been getting up really early in the mornings and staying until dusk taking samples of methane and flying a weather balloon that measures wind speed, wind direction, temperature and relative humidity.  I have also been helping with particulate samplers by changing their filters. 
It's been a great learning experience and I've got to see a lot of cool things, even if I've lacked on sleep and missed Dan a lot!  Anyways, here is the video that explains it!  Also, I'm in a picture on a blog post! :-)

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