“Why is there a helicopter flying low over my neighborhood?”
That’s the headline in a state Department of Health FAQ letting folks know that, starting Monday, a helicopter will buzz overheard. 
But not far overhead. About 300 feet, to be exact. That’s about the height of a 30-story building.
The chopper is measuring background radiation levels for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Remote Sensing Laboratory Aerial Measurement System. (Whew.)
The FAQ answers the obvious question:
This project isn’t related to the disaster in Japan. It began in September 2009, well before the earthquake in Fukushima. The helicopter flyover is part of a multi-phase project to improve our state readiness to respond to radiation emergencies.
This project is looking for radioactive material that exists in our environment. The survey isn’t focused on radioactive material from Japan. The amount of material from Japan was extremely low and will not be detected by equipment on the helicopter.
The helicopter’s equipment can detect the presence of radioactive materials that emit gamma radiation such as cesium and radioactive iodine. The baseline would be used in the event of a radiation emergency to compare radioactive contamination to the normal levels found during this study.
More information is available here. The flights start July 11 in the Seattle-Bellevue area and continue through July 28 in other areas of King and Pierce counties, according to Seattle/Local Heath Guide.
