May 27, 2026

 

The Study of Urban Chemical Composition & Emissions Research – Air Quality, or SOCCER-AQ, 2026 is a massive, real-world experiment that will take advantage of the opportunity presented by the millions of visitors expected for the World Cup games this summer. Increased transportation, shifts in traffic patterns, elevated energy consumption and more commercial activity are expected to measurably increase emissions. At the same time, event-specific management strategies, such as traffic controls, increased public transit, and security measures may alter the typical emissions patterns in ways that are difficult to anticipate.

The Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) is leading the SOCCER-AQ campaign, in collaboration with other NOAA labs and offices, to study how these rapid, short-term changes in human activity affect urban air quality along the Northeast I-95 corridor. The campaign will use coordinated measurements taken from the ground, using instruments mounted on the Air Resources Car, the air, using similar instruments mounted on NOAA’s Twin Otter aircraft, and from space using satellite data to provide a comprehensive view of the urban atmosphere. This effort will advance the scientific foundation for urban air quality management, improving predictive modeling and supporting more effective responses to both routine and extraordinary emission scenarios. 

The campaign also serves as a crucial testing ground for city emergency managers by helping to improve HYSPLIT, ARL’s widely-used transport and dispersion model. HYSPLIT takes in weather data and information about the processes that happen in the atmosphere to forecast where chemicals or other materials released into the air will go and the concentrations in different areas. If emergency managers know where a hazardous material is moving through their community, they can make smarter public safety decisions.

The data gathered during SOCCER-AQ in the major cities of Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston will make HYSPLIT better at predicting the movement of hazardous materials. By gaining a deeper understanding of city wind patterns and how the air closest to the ground moves, we can create more accurate models. This directly helps emergency responders make life-saving decisions during normal situations and major public safety crises.