View allAll Photos Tagged EarthExpedition
NASA’s DC-8 research plane flew over the Palmer Peninsula of Antarctica on Oct. 14, 2017. The flight was part of the Atmospheric Tomography mission to survey over 200 gases as well as airborne particles on a 30-day tour around the world. This Antarctic flight coincides with the annual formation of the hole in the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. The scientists aboard the DC-8 are interested in studying the gases present below the ozone hole to better understand the chemical processes at work in this region of the atmosphere. In addition, the flight reprises research flights made 30 years ago by the DC-8 during the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment (AAOE), a partnership between NASA, NOAA, and other international agencies and universities.
The AAOE flights in 1987 paired the DC-8 with the ER-2 research plane to follow up on the British Antarctic Survey’s 1985 report characterizing the ozone layer’s destruction. The ozone layer protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet light from the Sun that can damage DNA and, for example, cause skin cancer and other health problems. In the 1980s scientists discovered that ozone was being depleted, and the AAOE data confirmed that it was indeed the result of chlorine and bromine chemistry caused by human-emitted chlorofluorocarbons, which were banned by the Montreal Protocol in the same year.
The Atmospheric Tomography’s fall 2017 mission is the third of four deployments that will take place through 2018. It is an Earth Venture mission funded by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder program at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and is managed by the Earth Science Project Office at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley.
Read more: www.nasa.gov/earthexpeditions
Credit: Caltech/Paul Wennberg
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Find us on Instagram
NASA scientists are flying over Alaska and Canada, measuring the elevation of rivers and lakes to study how thawing permafrost affects hydrology in the landscape, as part of the ABoVE #EarthExpedition.
This view of one of the great Arctic rivers, the Yukon, meandering through Yukon Flats, Alaska, was taken from NASA’s DC-8 “flying laboratory” as part of the Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days and Seasons (ASCENDS) experiment. Scientists on NASA’s Air Surface, Water and Ocean Topography (AirSWOT) mission have been flying over the same location, investigating how water levels in the Arctic landscape change as permafrost thaws. Under typical conditions, the frozen layer of soil keeps water from sinking into the ground and percolating away. As permafrost thaws, the water has new ways to move between rivers and lakes, which can raise or lower the elevation of the bodies of water. These changes in water levels will affect Arctic life— plants, animals and humans—in the near future. go.nasa.gov/2wmsAkQ
Join @NASA_NAAMES scientists aboard R/V Atlantis at 7 pm EDT TODAY as they prepare to head back out to the North Atlantic. #EarthExpedition
Join NAAMES scientists aboard Research Vessel R/V Atlantis at 7 p.m. EDT as they prepare to head back out to the North Atlantic, where the world’s largest annual phytoplankton bloom is in its declining phase. For the next five weeks, the instrumented ship serves as a floating research laboratory and a home to dozens of marine scientists. NAAMES research helps us to understand the immense influence of petite ocean plankton, how they are recreated each year, and how they give rise to seasonal plankton blooms, which support the world's fisheries and take up massive amounts of atmospheric carbon. Submit your questions now for tonight’s live event.
To learn more about NASA’s North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study, view this mission overview video: naames.larc.nasa.gov/video/NAAMESoverview.mp4
Up in smoke (and clouds) over the Southeast Atlantic — a new #EarthExpedition blog from #ORACLES blogs.nasa.gov/earthexpeditions/2017/09/13/up-in-smoke-an...
Earlier today, about 60 people — half scientists and half crew — headed out to the North Atlantic aboard the Research Vessel Atlantis for the third part of the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) #EarthExpedition. The team has already completed two successful campaigns studying distinct phases of the North Atlantic phytoplankton bloom, the atmosphere and ecosystem. This fall departure includes a month of collecting important data that paints a clearer picture of the declining, or deaccelerating, annual phase of the plankton that comes after the summer bloom climax. The dedicated ship team is prepared to rough the seas for science this hurricane season. Fair winds to the NAAMES/Atlantis team!
Read more about the past NAAMES campaigns: www.nasa.gov/content/earth-expeditions-naames