What you don't see in the air could hurt you.

Beautiful days this time of year are an easy thing to come by in east Tennessee.

But there's something in those beautiful days that you may not be seeing which might not be good for you. One local researcher has made it her job to let you know that what you're not seeing could actually be hurting you.

Latoya Myles is a physical scientist with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) office in Oak Ridge. Her role at NOAA is as a researcher with a specialty in air quality.

The NOAA office has been in oak ridge since 1948 and has done a lot for local meteorological research in this area. These days along with weather forecasting the facility has a number of projects under its belt including researching air quality, climate and the dispersion of particulate matter in the atmosphere.

To the untrained eye detecting such materials in the air is virtually impossible. To capture the air born material NOAA has several research sites across the region.

Latoya states, ?a lot of times we're studying compounds in the parts per billion level or parts per million level which is very very small but when you look at how much is being emitted into the air from different sources globally they really do add up?.

When these elements called "particulate matter" add up that's when we as a society need to take notice.

?Particulate matter is a type of aerosol that's in the atmosphere and it actually is something we classify by size?, adds LaToya, ?larger particles that you can actually see suspended in the are like dust particulate and soot but the particulate matter that we are interested in studying are actually less than 2.5 microns.?

In case you weren't paying attention in science class a micron is really small. For the record, one meter is just over 39 inches. A single micron is one millionth of a meter (meaning 1/1,000,000 m) that means you can breathe these elements in through your nose and mouth vastly impacting your health.

LaToya Myles says, ?If you respire them in, they can actually irritate your lungs. There is a lot of research out there in the public health arena that looks at how these particles can affect your lungs and how they can cause different types of respiratory problems. It's something that's very important when you look at smaller children and the elderly who may be predisposed to having some respiratory problems.?

According to the Environmental Protection Agency the air around east Tennessee, though safe, isn't as clean as it could be.

?Actually for the past several years east Tennessee has been in a non-attainment designation by the U.S. EPA stating that we really have to work on our air quality when it comes to ozone and particulate matter. It's something that we really have to work on to make sure we keep our air healthy and that we keep aware of ways that we can individually reduce air pollution in the area, says LaToya.

Luckily the folks at NOAA are looking out for us and by partnering with the EPA they?ve implemented several programs including the Air Now and Air Quality Index which can bee seen on all WBIR forecasts.

Studying invisible debris floating through the air is just one aspect of the varied work NOAA offices conduct across the country. Making sure the public knows when it's safe to enjoy the beautiful days of summer is still perhaps it's most important.