To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, JAXA = Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and ANA Holdings, a major aviation company, have begun full-scale efforts to observe emissions from various parts of Japan from the sky with passenger planes.
JAXA and ANA Holdings began this month on a regular flight connecting Haneda and Fukuoka to observe greenhouse gas emissions on passenger planes.
Sensors are installed in the seats to observe the concentration of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane from the windows inside the aircraft.
JAXA has been observing the entire earth from artificial satellites over a wide area, but with this method, it is possible to observe the concentration in a finer range, such as every 100 meters square.
In the future, we would like to expand it to other routes, investigate the concentration for each area characteristic such as factories, power plants, along main roads, and provide it as data when the national government considers emission reduction measures.
Akihiko Kuze, project manager of JAXA, said, "It was difficult to grasp where and how much the transportation field such as moving automobiles is being discharged, but if it can be observed accurately, it will lead to the examination of efficient reduction methods."