A team of scientists will analyze greenhouse-gas concentrations in the atmosphere by using a new device aboard international flights in cooperation with Japan Airlines.

In what experts call an "epoch-making" attempt, the researchers will start this summer collecting and studying such data as the difference between the concentration of greenhouse gases above seas and land masses.

The new device was codeveloped by the researchers and JAL.

The team, made up of researchers from the National Institute for Environmental Studies and various universities, will also focus on how the concentration of carbon dioxide changes through different levels of the atmosphere.

They are expected to gather unprecedented data that could help refine techniques to predict global warming.

If all goes according to plan, air collected from the atmosphere through planes' jet engines for air conditioning will go through the analyzer, which measures the concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and dinitrogen monoxide.

The analyzer can collect and save data for about two months, and the researchers won't have to be on the planes.

The research team is planning to use JAL flights to and from Europe, the United States and other parts of Asia.

JAL plans to start test runs around summer after gaining approval from the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.