Researchers in the U.K. are now investigating how smog along with other pollutants are now spreading across London's air with the help of birds, more specifically, pigeons that are wearing small sensors.

It's been known that air pollution in the U.K. has been considered one of the largest threats to citizens' health, where the level of pollutants in the air surrounding the nation's capital is now surpassing annual limits at an alarming rate, just into the first week of this year.

Now, a French tech company known as Plume Labs, aims to monitor London's air quality more closely than ever before with help of DigitasLBI by launching a new program known as the Pigeon Air Patrol, that is designed to measure how much air pollution is generated by the city.

Scientists who are involved in this program released 10 pigeons into the city that are armed with 25 gram-backpacks that work by detecting levels of nitrogen dioxide that are produced daily by vehicles like cars, buses and trucks. Beginning March 14 until march 16, the birds are expected to fly around the city to obtain current readings of air pollution.

According to CEO of Plume Labs, Romain Lacombe, some 10,000 locals die each year due to the harmful effects of air pollution that can lead to acquiring deadly diseases. He believes that by fitting pigeons with air sensors, it helps the public gain more public awareness about London's worsening air pollution and it can also provide an easier and quicker way to access information about the effects of poor quality air to one's health.

Accordig to DigitasLBI creative director Pierre Duquesnoy, this program was inspired by the use of pigeons during the soldiers of the first and second world wars, when pigeons were trained to gather information. 

These birds have the ability to fly as high as 100 to 150 feet while cruising at 80 miles per hour which makes them ideal for collecting air pollution readings in London without being smothered in the city's highly congested roads.

Now, citizens can now view and track London's air pollution levels via the Pigeon Air Patrol's website and on social media as the pigeons tweet readings from their backpack sensors @PigeonAir.

When this three day information gathering ends, readings will be analyzed by researchers from the Imperial College London.