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Twenty-one Hours a Day on a 30-Foot Floating Science Lab

The Twin Otter research plane flies past RV Blissfully on sampling station. RV Blissfully’s surface light sensor is seen in the foreground. Photo by Bridget Seegers.

Research Vessel (RV) Blissfully is a 30-foot sailboat that is the science lab and home for two sailing scientists, Captain Gordon Ackland and myself, Dr. Bridget Seegers. The RV Blissfully is a recent addition to the fleet of research vessels. Previously, Blissfully’s days were primarily spent peacefully floating snug in a San Diego boat slip with an occasional day sail. However, Blissfully was volunteered to support the PACE-PAX campaign and therefore transitioned a month ago into RV Blissfully.

Day-in-the-Life of a PACE-PAX Mission Flight

The turbid and complex waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta were visible during a spiral maneuver. Photo by Luke Ziemba.

06:00 Local Time: Go/No-Go Meeting We are in the field supporting PACE-PAX (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment), a multi-disciplinary mission that involves two aircraft—the NASA ER-2 and CIRPAS Twin Otter—and several mobile ocean assets, all helping to validate observations and data products from NASA’s new satellite observation platform, PACE. Our days typically start with an initial look at the weather in the area of operations and airport conditions during takeoff and landing. Both the ER-2 and Twin Otter will fly today since the weather is acceptable for launch, science, and landing.

Sailing Away for PACE

Image of PACE detaching from its rocket on February 7, 2024. Photo by Kelsey Allen.

Hello from sunny Santa Barbara, California, where the ship operations for the PACE-PAX campaign are underway!

The PACE satellite went into orbit in February 2024. Its mission is to help us better understand how the ocean and atmosphere exchange carbon dioxide, as well as how aerosols can fuel phytoplankton blooms and help us track harmful algal blooms around the planet.

PACE-PAX stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem – Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment (see why we made it shorter?) We are using two airplanes and three ships, among other free-sailing instruments, to gather data that will tell us how well our shiny new satellite, PACE, is doing. We compare our planet-side data with the space-side data so we can make sure we are providing the very best information about the health of the world’s oceans.

NASA Earth Scientists Take Flight, Set Sail to Verify PACE Satellite Data

NASA - More than 100 scientists will participate in a field campaign involving a research vessel and two aircraft this month to verify the accuracy of data collected by NASA’s new PACE satellite: the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission.

NASA G-IV Plane Will Carry Next-Generation Science Instrument

G-IV airplane flies over Antelope Valley, California during June 2024

In June 2024, a new tail number swept the sky above NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Pilots conducted flights of a Gulfstream IV (G-IV) to evaluate its handling characteristics and to familiarize pilots with it before it begins structural modifications. The research plane is joining the center’s fleet serving NASA’s Airborne Science program.

NASA Aircraft Gathers 150 Hours of Data to Better Understand Earth

NASA’s C-20A aircraft completed more than 150 hours of international science flights from May 20 to July 24 in support of an Earth science deployment series. The aircraft, owned and operated by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, overcame several challenges throughout the missions. NASA/Carla Thomas

Operating internationally over several countries this summer, NASA’S C-20A aircraft completed more than 150 hours of science flights across two months in support of Earth science research and overcame several challenges throughout its missions.

NASA Returns to Arctic Studying Summer Sea Ice Melt

A research scientist monitors data measurements in-flight during the spring campaign of the ARCSIX mission. NASA/Gary Banziger

The NASA-sponsored Arctic Radiation Cloud Aerosol Surface Interaction Experiment (ARCSIX) mission is flying three aircraft over the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland to study these processes. The aircraft are equipped with instruments to gather observations of surface sea ice, clouds, and aerosol particles, which affect the Arctic energy budget and cloud properties. The energy budget is the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses to outer space.

Second Stop: The 2019 Arctic Tundra Fire in Greenland

Meet the team: Elmiina Pilkama, Meri Ruppel, Sonja Granqvist, Sander Veraverbeke, and Lucas Diaz (from left to right).
July 29th, 2024 by Sonja Granqvist/University of Helsinki A combined team from the University of Helsinki (Environmental Change Research Unit), the Finnish Meteorological Institute (Atmospheric Composition Unit), and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Climate & Ecosystems Change) was on its way again to gather groundbreaking data on carbon and aerosol emissions from increasing fires in the northern high latitudes. Our journey began in boreal Quebec and now continues to Arctic Greenland.

First Stop: Sampling the 2023 Fires in Quebec

Meet the team: Thomas Janssen, Yuquan Qu, Lucas Diaz, Max van Gerrevink, Sonja Granqvist, and Sander Veraverbeke (from left to right).

This blog post is the first in a series to come. Our team, the Climate & Ecosystems Change research group from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is working in collaboration with the Environmental Change Research Unit from the University of Helsinki for a summer with lots of fire field work, science, and adventure. On this journey, our first stop was the Quebec province in Canada. I’m writing this post after our last day of fieldwork here.

NASA-Led Mission to Map Air Pollution Over Both U.S. Coasts

Two NASA aircraft, including the P-3 shown here, will be flying over Baltimore, Philadelphia, Virginia and California between June 17 and July 2, to collect data on air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Credit: (NASA/ Zavaleta)

This summer between June 17 and July 2, NASA will fly aircraft over Baltimore, Philadelphia, parts of Virginia, and California to collect data on air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. The campaign supports the NASA Student Airborne Research Program for undergraduate interns.

NASA Mission Flies Over Arctic to Study Sea Ice Melt Causes

Two NASA aircraft are taking coordinated measurements of clouds, aerosols and sea ice in the Arctic this summer as part of the ARCSIX field campaign. In this image from Thursday, May 30, NASA’s P-3 aircraft takes off from Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland behind the agency’s Gulfstream III aircraft. Credit: NASA/Dan Chirica

It’s not just rising air and water temperatures influencing the decades-long decline of Arctic sea ice. Clouds, aerosols, even the bumps and dips on the ice itself can play a role. To explore how these factors interact and impact sea ice melting, NASA is flying two aircraft equipped with scientific instruments over the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland this summer. The first flights of the field campaign, called ARCSIX (Arctic Radiation Cloud Aerosol Surface Interaction Experiment), successfully began taking measurements on May 28.

NASA Teammates Recall Favorite Memories Aboard Flying Laboratory

The NASA DC-8 aircraft lifts off on a flight from U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, at sunset. The DC-8 is based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703, which is located on Plant 42. NASA/Carla Thomas

After flying more than three decades and 158 science campaigns, just one flight remains. NASA’s DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory will make its final flight May 15 to Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho, where it will be used to train future aircraft technicians by providing real-world experience in the college’s Aircraft Maintenance Technology Program.

Meet NASA Women Behind World’s Largest Flying Laboratory

Kirsten Boogaard, Deputy Project Manager for the DC-8 aircraft, leads and manages project planning, integration and resources for airborne science missions since 2020. NASA/Ken Ulbrich

NASA’s DC-8 aircraft – the world’s largest flying science laboratory – began its science missions in 1987 and since then, has flown in service of the science community over places like Antarctica, Greenland, and Thailand. Aircraft like the DC-8 have enabled scientists to ask questions about life on Earth and explore them in a way that only NASA’s Airborne Science program can make happen. After 37 years, the DC-8 will retire to Idaho State University, where it will serve as an educational tool for students.

As the DC-8 approaches its retirement, we highlight five of the women who have made the aircraft and program a success. Kirsten Boogaard, Nicki Reid, Carrie Worth, Erin Waggoner, and Wendy Bereda of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, are building the legacy of women who are helping pave the way for the next generation.

NASA’s ORCA, AirHARP Projects Paved Way for PACE to Reach Space

HARP2, short for Hyper Angular Rainbow Polarimeter 2, undergoes calibration testing prior to launch aboard PACE. NASA/Denny Henry

It took the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission just 13 minutes to reach low-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in February 2024. It took a network of scientists at NASA and research institutions around the world more than 20 years to carefully craft and test the novel instruments that allow PACE to study the ocean and atmosphere with unprecedented clarity.

NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change

The Mackenzie River in Canada plays a major role in Arctic climate as warmer fresh water mixes with cold seawater.  This image was taken by the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite on July 18, 2017.

NASA has selected six new airborne missions that include domestic and international studies of fire-induced clouds, Arctic coastal change, air quality, landslide hazards, shrinking glaciers, and emissions from agricultural lands. NASA’s suite of airborne missions complement what scientists can see from orbit, measure from the ground, and simulate in computer models.

Hazy Skies in a Growing City

Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand, is famed for having hundreds of Buddhist temples, some of which date to the city’s founding in the 13th century. This rich history—and easy access to hiking, waterfalls, and hot springs in the surrounding highlands, as well as being the setting of a hit movie in 2012—has turned the city into a hub of tourism that hosts as many as 10 million visitors per year.

Grappling with Thailand’s Seasonal Haze

Each year in January and February, satellites begin to detect waves of smoke and fire in Southeast Asia, particularly in highland forests in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. Fire activity continues to increase through March and April, reaches a peak during the height of the dry season, and then fades in May with the start of the rainy season.

Individual fires are usually small and short-lived. But they are often so numerous that smoke, along with air pollution from rural and urban areas, mixes to produce thick layers of haze that blanket the landscape. Such hazes contain mixtures of small airborne particles called aerosols and gaseous pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone that degrade air quality and have harmful health effects.

In spring 2024, an international field campaign—ASIA-AQ (Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality)—headed to Thailand to take a close look at the haze. During the last two weeks of March 2024, NASA’s DC-8 and Gulfstream III aircraft flew several flights over Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and rural areas surrounding the cities to sample air quality with several sensors. At the same time, satellites observed the haze from above.

NASA’s DC-8 Completes Final Mission, Set to Retire

The DC-8 aircraft returned to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California, on April 1, 2024, after completing its final mission supporting Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality (ASIA-AQ). The aircraft and crew were welcomed back with a celebratory water salute by the U.S. Air Force Plant 42 Fire Department. NASA/Steve Freeman

After 37 years of successful airborne science missions, NASA’s DC-8 aircraft completed its final mission and returned to the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California, on April 1.

Langley Celebrates Women’s History Month: The Langley ASIA-AQ Team

Langley’s Angelique Demetillo, center, in her flight suit after a flight in the Philippines for the ASIA-AQ mission along with mission partners from the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Manila Observatory. NASA/Kevin Rohrer

In honor of Women’s History Month, we caught up with the ASIA-AQ team on the other side of the Earth and asked the women from Langley about their inspirations and challenges as scientists. The ASIA-AQ (Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality) mission is an international cooperative field study designed to address local air quality challenges. ASIA-AQ will contribute to improving the integration of satellite observations with existing air quality ground monitoring and modeling efforts across Asia.

NASA Leader Casey Swails Learns About Wildfire Work at NASA Ames

NASA Leader Casey Swails Learns About Wildfire Work at NASA Ames. NASA/Brandon Torres

NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Casey Swails views a demonstration on screen in the Airspace Operations Laboratory at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Researchers presented the diverse, long-running efforts in aeronautics at Ames that have helped lay the foundation for agency work related to wildfire response.

NASA Collaborates in an International Air Quality Study

NASA’s DC-8 aircraft takes off from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California, to conduct test flights as part of the Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality, or ASIA-AQ mission, that will collect detailed air quality data over several locations in Asia. NASA/Carla Thomas

NASA and international researchers are studying the air quality in Asia as part of a global effort to better understand the air we breathe. In collaboration with Korea’s National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), the Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality, or ASIA-AQ mission, will collect detailed atmospheric data over several locations in Asia.

NASA’s DC-8 to Fly Low-Altitude Over Central Valley, CA

DC-8 lifts off from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif. NASA/Carla Thomas

NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s DC-8 aircraft will fly over Central Valley and surroundings areas as part of an air quality field study. Residents in the areas below will see and hear the aircraft as it flies to achieve these measurements.

NASA Helps Study One of the World’s Most Diverse Ecosystems

Researchers with the BioSCape campaign collect vegetation data from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The field work, which took place in October and November, was part of an international collaboration that could help inform the capabilities of future satellite missions aimed at studying plants and animals. Adam Wilson

NASA satellite and airborne tools aid an international team studying biodiversity on land and in the water around South Africa. An international team of researchers spent October and November 2023 in the field studying one of the world’s most biologically diverse areas – South Africa’s Greater Cape Floristic Region. As part of the effort, researchers used NASA airborne and space-based instruments to gather complementary data to better understand the unique aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in this region. Their findings will inform the capabilities of future satellite missions aimed at studying plants and animals.

NASA, Partners Explore Sustainable Fuel’s Effects on Aircraft Contrails

NASA Armstrong’s DC-8 aircraft flies over the northwestern U.S. to monitor emissions from Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator Explorer aircraft.  As the largest flying science laboratory in the world, the DC-8 is equipped to collect crucial data about the sustainable aviation fuel and its effects on condensation trail formation. NASA/Jim Ross

Contrails, the lines of clouds from high-flying aircraft that crisscross the skies, are familiar sights, but they may have an unseen effect on the planet – trapping heat in the atmosphere. Working with Boeing, and other partners, NASA researchers are collecting data to see how new, greener aviation fuels can help reduce the problem.

A Tale of Three Pollutants

Scott Collis of Argonne National Laboratory, left, and community leader Nedra Sims Fears work to advance urban resilience through science. They collaborated with NASA during the STAQS air quality mission in Chicago. NASA/Kathleen Gaeta

It was a hazy August day on Chicago’s South Side, and Nedra Sims Fears was hosting a small gathering to talk about the air. Interstate-94, which bisects her Chatham neighborhood, hummed nearby. “This was the summer I spent watching summer out my window,” Fears said. 

That’s because asthma runs in her family, and smoke from wildfires in Canada had wafted into Chicago, making it difficult for her to breathe. Many of her neighbors don’t have air conditioning, which means they don’t have the luxury of shutting their windows against the tiny hazardous particles contained in the smoke.

Several thousand feet above the Fears’ home, one of the largest flying laboratories in the world circled the skies over Chicago. The plane – NASA’s four-engine DC-8 jet – is a storied research craft. Over the past 25 years it has supported field campaigns across all seven continents. On this August 2023 day, it carried 40 researchers and a pack of scientific instruments investigating air pollution over the cities and pasturelands of the Midwest.

NASA Ames’ Contributions to OSIRIS-REx

NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will manage an experiment taking advantage of the OSIRIS-REx sample arrival to study characteristics of re-entry through an atmosphere. Four aircraft and teams at three ground sites will track the capsule’s trajectory on its way to the surface, using imaging and spectroscopy instruments. Data from the project, called Hypervelocity OSIRIS-REx Reentry Imaging & Spectroscopy (HORIS), will be used to validate and develop planetary entry models. NASA’s Earth Science Project Office (ESPO), based at Ames, will provide operational and shipping support to two international ground teams by setting up work sites at three different locations in northern Nevada.

Surf, Turf, Above Earth: Students Participate in NASA Field Research

NASA SARP intern Karla Lemus, on left, assists NASA Scientist Emeritus Anne Thompson as she leads NASA SARP East interns, to release an ozone sonde from the parking lot of the VCU Rice Rivers Center on June 16, 2023. Credits: NASA/Angelique Herring

Flying over and tromping through watery landscapes along the East Coast, working alongside NASA scientists, and recording measurements about the air that they’re travelling through – these are not the usual experiences for an undergraduate student. For the 2023 participants in NASA’s SARP East program – short for Student Airborne Research Program – it was part of a summer they won't forget.

NASA Student Airborne Research Program 2023: Sky-High Science Learning

DC-8 airplane during SARP 2023.

NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center hosted undergraduate students for the 2023 Student Airborne Research Program.  An eight-week summer internship program, SARP offers upper-level undergraduate students the opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience as part of a real scientific campaign.  This year SARP, the Student Airborne Research Program, celebrated 15 years of success in the Airborne Science Program. Students worked alongside scientists and aircraft professionals both on the ground and in the sky, using NASA Airborne Science Program’s flying science laboratories, like NASA Armstrong’s DC-8 aircraft.  Outfitted specifically for science research projects, aircraft like the DC-8 help support both students and mission personnel to investigate science questions, aid in the understanding of our environment, and improve life on Earth.

Learn more about SARP: https://baeri.org/sarp/

Global Collaboration Leads to New Discoveries in Lightning Research

The joint team that worked on the Airborne Lightning Observatory for Fly’s Eye GLM Simulator (FEGS) and Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (ALOFT) field campaign takes a break in front of NASA Armstrong’s ER-2 aircraft following its safe return from a mission on July 24. The ALOFT field campaign spent 30 days studying gamma-ray glows and flashes produced from the electric fields of thunderclouds. Credits: NASA

With operations based out of Tampa, Florida, the ALOFT field campaign logged approximately 60 hours of flight time across Central America and the Caribbean. The team used NASA Armstrong’s ER-2 aircraft to fly near thunderclouds as tall as 18 kilometers (10 miles) in altitude in order to measure gamma-ray glows and flashes produced by the electric fields of thunderclouds.  ALOFT is short for Airborne Lightning Observatory for Fly’s Eye GLM Simulator and Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes. The campaign included researchers and flight crews from the University of Bergen, NRL, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA’s ER-2 Aircraft Flies High to Investigate Lightning

NASA Armstrong’s ER-2 aircraft flies high to study lightning. Credit: NASA

In July 2023, NASA’s ER-2 aircraft has been flying close to thunderclouds to investigate lightning and its connection to the vast energy fields in our atmosphere. As the highest-flying plane of NASA’s Airborne Science Program, the ER-2 is giving researchers a new angle on storm clouds.