Airborne Sciences
Several members of the Climate Change Research Center have been participating in intensive airborne research campaigns under the auspices of NASA and
NSF for many years. These campaigns seek to integrate measurements made in situ aboard research aircraft with global scale climate models and the
remote sensing capabilities of the vast array of earth orbiting satellites. These campaigns further our understanding of the transport and transformation
of gases and aerosols and their impact on climate and air quality.
Our measurement capabilities compliment the vast array of measurements made by many agencies in support of campaigns using the NASA DC–8 flying
laboratory, the NASA P3–B, the NCAR C–130, and the retired NASA Electra. Measurements we make aboard the aircraft generally include
HNO3, aerosol SO4=, bulk ionic aerosol composition, and the radionuclide tracers 210Pb and 7Be.
During our most recent campaign in 2006 aboard the NASA DC–8, we added gaseous Hg to our suite of measurements while participating in a
dual–purpose campaign to examine the extent and impact of Mexico City outflow and trans–Pacific Asian outflow (MILAGRO/INTEX–B).
| Related Projects |
Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS)
ARCTAS will take place as two 3-week aircraft deployments, in March-May and June-August 2008. It will involve the NASA DC-8 as in situ platform and the
smaller J-31 and B-200 aircraft as remote sensing platforms. The spring deployment will target anthropogenic pollution including arctic haze,
stratosphere-troposphere exchange, and sunrise photochemistry including halogen radicals. The summer deployment will target boreal forest fires,
stratosphere-troposphere exchange, and summertime photochemistry. ARCTAS will be part of the international
IPY/POLARCAT arctic field program for atmospheric composition , which involves a
consortium of countries (United States, Canada, Germany, France, Norway, Russia…) and agencies (including NSF, NOAA, and DOE for the United States),
and an ensemble of aircraft, surface, and ship-based measurement platforms.
ARCTAS has four major scientific themes, on which we elaborate below:
Long-range transport of pollution to the Arctic including arctic haze, tropospheric ozone, and persistent pollutants such as mercury;
Boreal forest fires and their implications for atmospheric composition and climate;
Aerosol radiative forcing from arctic haze, boreal fires, surface-deposited black carbon, and other perturbations, and aiming to improve the synthesis of multi-sensor aerosol observations
from space;
Chemical processes with focus on ozone, aerosols, and mercury, and including particular attention to the chemistry of halogen and hydrogen oxide radicals and to stratosphere-troposphere
exchange.
We have two investigations funded for this DC-8 mission:
Measurement of HNO3 and aerosol composition (Dibb and Scheuer)
Measurement of Hg(0), reactive gaseous mercury, and particulate Hg (Talbot and Mao)
Intex–B
The Intex–B mission was conducted during a 10-week period from March 1 to May 15, 2006. The first phase of the study, performed during March, focused
on Mexico City pollution outflow, while the second phase was performed during April and May and focused on Asian pollution outflow.
DC–8 Flying Laboratory
Home of the NASA DC–8 Sub–Orbital Flying Laboratory at the University of North Dakota.
Past Missions
INTEX–B (2006)
PAVE (2005)
INTEX–NA (2004)
DICE (2003)
TRACE–P (2001)
TOPSE (2000)
PEM–Tropics B (1999)
SONEX (1997)
PEM–Tropics A (1996)
SUCCESS (1996)
PEM–West B (1994)
TRACE–A (1992)
PEM–West A (1991)
ABLE–3B (1990)
ABLE–3A (1988)
ABLE–2B (1987)
ABLE–2A (1985)
ABLE–1 (1984)
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