The Aura Ozone Monitoring Garden is breaking new grounds at Goddard's visitor center. It's the magic of plants making the invisible, visible. Bringing down to earth what remote sensing observations are telling us.

The ozone monitoring garden is full of plants that scientists have found to be ozone-sensitive. When exposed to high levels of ozone, each of these plants shows damage on their leaves. Older leaves have the most damage. Plants with ozone damage have very fine colored spots on the upper surfaces of their leaves, and some leaves also turn yellow. Ozone sensitive plants growing in the garden include cutleaf coneflower, cardinal flower, flowering dogwood, and black-eyed susan. All of these species are fairly common and easy to grow, so can serve well for educational gardens.

Students, teachers, and public visitors to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center can learn and teach about atmospheric chemistry and public health with the garden, and can learn about setting up their own ozone monitoring programs.

+ Frequently Asked Questions about the Ozone garden monitoring project

Plants Become Air Quality Detectives 10.10.06 - What does a garden have to do with the chemistry of the atmosphere and air quality? + Read More

Aura Ozone Monitoring Garden at Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center

Keep posted for updates on workshops, air quality alerts, etc.