Hawaiian Airlines Tracks Climate Change From the Sky

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Hawaiian Airlines has added equipment to one of its airplanes to collect real-time data on air quality as it flies.

According to the carrier, technicians installed the equipment on the Airbus A330 earlier this year, and Hawaiian Airlines activated it this week to begin collecting data in the Pacific, Asia and North America.

The project is in partnership with the European-funded, Belgian non-profit In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System (IAGOS).

The device will gather information aimed at determining the health of Earth's atmosphere, such as the level of greenhouse gases at high altitudes.

Earth's changing climate is expected to affect the way we fly in the years to come, with a range of consequences, from increased turbulence to more flight cancelations.

A recent study published in the journal Climactic Change used modeling to demonstrate how extreme high temperatures could cause major disruptions across the U.S. by the end of the century. Airplanes, particularly smaller aircraft, face difficulties taking off in high temperatures as the air is thinner, reducing lift.

Some of these changes have already started to manifest.
According to a New York Times report, American Airlines canceled more than 40 flights in the span of a few days in June over 120 degree temperatures in Phoenix.