Kern County UCCE hosts air quality study

A 60-foot tower near the UC Cooperative Extension office on South Mt. Vernon Avenue in Bakersfield has been built to hold instruments aloft for air quality studies in the area, the Bakersfield Californian reported.

Researchers from around the country are conducting the studies to gain a deeper understanding of the environment and to inform air quality regulatory policy.

"You need to measure what's in the air, and then from that you go back and look at crafting regulatory policy," UCCE farm advisor John Karlik was quoted. "But science has to precede policy."

The tower is hosted by the UC Cooperative Extension and funded by the California Air Resources Board.

Bakersfield was chosen as a site for the project, which began in May and runs through the end of June, because of its problems with air quality and its relatively strong sources of atmospheric compounds, the article said.

The participating scientists - representing UC Berkeley, University of Wisconsin and University of Miami - have already begun assessing data.

"It's all about how we put those data into a larger framework," Karlik was quoted. "We think it's of broader public interest."

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