The purpose of the second AERONET training was to sample the air pollution and look at the uniformity of pollution within the Koforidua environment. The training which was organised by the All Nations University-Space Systems Technology Laboratory (ANU-SSTL) and Carnegie Fellowship, a science research group based in the USA, formed part of efforts to improve knowledge on space science .

The All Nations University had its AERONET instrument installed at the University campus in December 2015, after the ANUC has signed an agreement with the International Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 

The instrument has since been taking measurement of the level of pollution around the school. The AERONET is a NASA instrument, which measures small particles in the atmosphere, scientifically is referred to as aerasols.

As part of the training, participants were taken through the process of determining the high pollution from the data and how to determine the source of the pollution. The participants were also taken through Giovanni tool, one of NASA’s tools to access all NASA’s satellite data.

The participants were also made to go round the Municipality and sample the pollution levels at five selected areas, using a hand held air quality instrument.The results showed that out of the five locations, it was the Ada Magazine near the abattoir that recorded the worse form of pollution.

The other four locations, the main lorry station, Jackson Park , Assemblies of God area and the Obuotabire mountains all recorded normal pollution levels.  The hand held instrument used to take the measurement of the level of pollution was intended to compare with the measurement of the AERONET instrument installed at the School to ascertain how uniform the pollution was across Koforidua.

A NASA Scientist and Director of ANU -Space Systems Technology Laboratory (STTL), Dr Richard Damoah, urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take advantage of the exercise and educate the people on the effect of pollution.

A participant, Mr Kofi Asare from the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI), said being a scientist, the training had been useful, because it had exposed him to measurement of pollution.

The participants were made up of science students, lecturers, scientists and officers from the environmental agencies.