Summary
On January 16, the city of New York gave up. It had been a week since an unknown, pervasive odor had seeped into parts of Manhattan. City officials decided to call an end to the search for the source of the smell, without having figured out the mystery. The answer is that detecting airborne toxins and tracing certain smells are two different things, and both can be difficult. Cities such as New York own and operate a slew of chemical sensors, the details of which local officials are loath to discuss for security reasons. But the problem the technology presents is that for the most part detectors test for the presence or absence of a specific set of chemicals or compounds. Testing for an unknown compound or precisely identifying all the compounds in the air is a completely different task. Some theories suggest New York's mystery odor was mercaptans -- a smelly substance added to natural gas so homeowners can notice a gas leak.
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Extract
Sniffing Out Threats
On Jan. 16, the city of New York gave up.
It had been a week since an unknown, pervasive odor had seeped into parts of Manhattan. City officials decided to call an end to the search for the source of the smell, without having figured out the mystery.By this point,...See the full content of this document
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