NASA Aircraft Examine Impact of Forest Fires on Arctic Climate
- From: baalke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:41:04 -0700 (PDT)
June 12, 2008
Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@xxxxxxxx
RELEASE: 08-145
NASA AIRCRAFT EXAMINE IMPACT OF FOREST FIRES ON ARCTIC CLIMATE
WASHINGTON -- As the summer fire season heats up, NASA aircraft are
set to follow the trail of smoke plumes from some of Earth's
northernmost forest fires, examining their contribution to arctic
pollution and implications for climate change.
Starting June 29, NASA's DC-8 and P-3B aircraft, based at a Canadian
military base in Cold Lake, Alberta, will begin their final
three-week deployment of the Arctic Research of the Composition of
the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites, or ARCTAS, mission. A
third NASA aircraft, the B-200 King Air, will fly from Yellowknife,
Canada. The mission is the most extensive field campaign ever to
study the chemistry of the Arctic's lower atmosphere. The three
airborne laboratories are equipped to fly through the smoke plumes of
northern-latitude forest fires. The resulting data, when combined
with simultaneous satellite measurements, could reveal the impact of
forest fires on the arctic atmosphere.
"The summer campaign will focus on boreal forest fire emissions,"
said
Jim Crawford, manager of the Tropospheric Chemistry Program at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. "Coupled with the observations of arctic
haze during the spring deployment based in Alaska, these data will
improve our understanding of the relative importance of these two
influences on arctic atmospheric composition and climate."
Boreal forests, which span Earth's northern latitudes, have seen a
rise in natural forest fires during the last decade. Researchers have
debated the degree to which these fires contribute to the Arctic's
atmosphere compared to other sources, such as human-caused emissions
from lower latitudes. The ARCTAS flights through smoke plumes, over
and downwind from their source, will reveal their composition and
transport path.
Researchers also will use the data to examine how the chemistry of
smoke plumes changes over time and distance. Plume chemistry can
contribute to the formation of ozone in the lower atmosphere.
Particulates in smoke plumes can affect Earth's radiation balance
with consequences for climate change.
The mission also is expected to help researchers interpret data from
NASA satellites orbiting over the Arctic. NASA's Cloud-Aerosol Lidar
and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation, or CALIPSO, satellite
can measure the height of various plume components in the atmosphere,
information critical to predicting plume movement. Researchers will
use data from ARCTAS to validate observations from CALIPSO and other
satellites to improve model predictions of fire impacts on chemistry
and climate.
"Aircraft experiments provide the greatest possible detail on the
state of the atmosphere, but only for short, intense periods of
sampling," Crawford said. "By conducting these flights in tight
coordination with satellites and computer models, airborne
observations lead to improvements in the interpretation of satellite
observations and better representation of atmospheric processes in
chemistry and climate models. This improves our confidence in models'
ability to monitor and predict future changes."
The Yellowknife site also will host a portable science station from
Pennsylvania State University that collects ground-based ozone and
aerosol measurements, in conjunction with daily launches of
balloon-borne instruments planned by Environment Canada and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The ARCTAS flights are being coordinated with research flights being
conducted by the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes
Spatiales, and the German Aerospace Center from Kangerlussuaq,
Greenland.
The summer deployment of ARCTAS follows a spring deployment based in
Fairbanks, Alaska. That mission focused on atmospheric composition,
pollution transport pathways, and the formation of "arctic haze,"
which is fueled by sunlight that causes chemical reactions in
pollutants that accumulate over the winter.
For more information about the ARCTAS mission on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/arctas
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
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