View allAll Photos Tagged Oracle
Taking part in the Oracles 2016 project in Walvis Bay, Namibia
ORACLES – Walvis Bay, 2016
Southern Africa produces almost a third of the Earth’s biomass burning (BB) aerosol particles, yet the fate of these particles and their influence on regional and global climate is poorly understood. ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) was a five year investigation with three Intensive Observation Periods (IOP) designed to study key processes that determine the climate impacts of African BB aerosols. Particles lofted into the mid-troposphere are transported westward over the SE Atlantic, home to one of the three permanent subtropical Stratocumulus (Sc) cloud decks in the world. The stratocumulus “climate radiators” are critical to the regional and global climate system.
During August to September 2016, NASA flew an ER-2 out of Walvis Bay with a series of imaging instruments along with a P-3, which conducted in situ observations over the South Atlantic and associated clouds. The single seater ER-2 flew across the Atlantic from Recife Brazil.
All Photos: Courtesy of Frank Eckardt