In London scientists are drawing on the help of pigeons to bring air quality surveillance a step further. Image source: Shutterstock (#274567574)
Initally started as a Twitter contest in 2015, the Pigeon Air Patrol is now a set initiative to measure London’s air pollution. Around 100 pigeons wear ultra-light air quality sensors made by Plume Labs, a French company. The struggle with air quality measuring is that the sensors are in fixed places so they cannot track air as it moves around. The pigeons cross the city in about half an hour and cover an area that could not be covered at ground in the same time. For the first time the sensors attached to the pigeons measured ozone, nitrogen dioxide and volatile compounds which provided important data about the air pollution. Thanks to the Pigeon Air Patrol air pollution tracking has become a top news item.
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