NASA studies Arctic atmospheric warming with ARCTAS

William Atkins
Monday, 07 April 2008 20:00

Science - Space

The three NASA aircraft will be assisted in their investigation with numerous NASA satellites in orbit about the Earth.

Some of the Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites used for ARCTAS include Aura and Terra, along with the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO), a joint project of NASA and the French space agency CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales).

Dr. Jacob adds, “NASA has invested a lot of resources in satellites that can be of value for diagnosing effects of climate change. Satellites orbit over poles with good coverage and good opportunity, but you really need to have aircraft observations supporting those to make good interpretations of what satellites are telling you." [NASA]

A second phase of the ARCTAS campaign takes place this summer from Cold Lake in Alberta, Canada, where flights will focus on measurements of emissions from forest fires especially in Eurasia and North America.

The Summer Phase of ARCTAS includes DC-8 flights from Palmdale, California, June 18-25, 2008, and from Cold Lake, Alberta, between June 26 and July 14, 2008.

Researchers want to know how the impact of naturally occurring fires in the region compares to the pollution associated with human activity at lower latitudes.

Understanding the relative influence of each is important to predictions of the Arctic's future climate.

For more information about the ARCTAS field campaign on the Web, go to NASA ARACTAS field campaign.