News

When Wildfire Smoke and Thunderstorms Collide

Smoke and clouds seen from an airplane

The Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) airborne campaign got an up-close look at what happens when wildfire smoke makes its way into a thunderstorm.

College Students Study the Earth From NASA's P-3B Flying Lab

NASA P-3B at the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility

Thirty-two undergraduate and graduate students are participating in a NASA Airborne Science Program field experience at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. this week designed to immerse them in the agency's Earth science research.

NASA C-20A Wrapping up Iceland Ice Caps Survey

Flight and ground crew team of NASA's C-20A (G-III) environmental science research aircraft

Flight and ground crew of NASA's environmental science research aircraft host visit by U.S. ambassador to Iceland during stay in Keflavik.

Teachers Experience Arctic Research with IceBridge

The DMS expert explains the instrument to teachers-in-the-field accompanying the IceBridge flight

During the 2012 Arctic campaign, teachers from the United States, Denmark and Greenland joined IceBridge researchers as they surveyed Greenland's sea ice, ice sheet and glaciers.

NASA Airborne Radar Studies Icelandic Ice Caps

NASA's C-20A Airborne Science research aircraft taxis in at Keflavik International Airport

A NASA science aircraft carrying a specially designed synthetic aperture radar is currently in Iceland as part of a study to derive 3D surface velocity fields for two of the country's ice caps.

NASA DC-8, NCAR G-V Continue Bumpy Science Flights

Instrument probes protrude from NASA's DC-8 Airborne Science flying laboratory

Two flying science laboratories fly around thunderstorm cores and anvil clouds over the central U.S. during NCAR's DC3 atmospheric science campaign.

NASA Science Grips Two Brothers

2 brothers

Two principal researchers on several airborne sensors had more in common than conducting atmospheric research. Gerry and Andy Heymsfield are brothers.

NASA Sending Unmanned Aircraft Over Hurricanes

Satellite view of Tropical Depression Beryl over Florida

Beginning this summer and over the next several years, NASA will be sending unmanned aircraft dubbed "severe storm sentinels" above stormy skies to help researchers and forecasters uncover information about hurricane formation and intensity changes.

DC3 Thunderstorm Study Science Flights Underway

Thunderstorm supercell photographed from NASA's DC-8 from an altitude of 40,000 ft

Complex environmental science campaign over central U.S. to aid scientists' understanding of how large thunderstorms affect atmospheric chemistry.

2012 Arctic IceBridge Complete

Map of P-3 2012 Arctic Flight Tracks

The NASA P-3 has returned home to Wallops Flight Facility after completing a record number of science flight hours for Operation IceBridge.

DC3: Chemistry of Thunderstorms

NASA's DC-8 Earth Science laboratory

NASA researchers begin a campaign that will take them into the heart of thunderstorm country.

NASA's ER-2 Completes MABEL Validation Deployment

Convergence of two glaciers near Thule, Greenland seen from NASA's ER-2

The weather, the aircraft and the science instruments cooperated to successfully validate data from the MABEL laser altimeter planned for IceSat-2.

NASA Langley Aircraft Joins Operation IceBridge

NASA HU-25C Aircraft

NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., deployed its newly acquired HU-25C jet as part of NASA's Operation IceBridge.

Good Ice Sheet Data Obtained on MABEL Flights

Glacier on the east coast of Greeenland from the ER-2. Credit: NASA/Stu Broce

Recent validation flights of the MABEL laser altimeter on NASA's ER-2 are recording data on sea and land-ice elevation and thickness.

IceBridge: A New Home and a New Engine

Map of the 2012 Arctic campaign's sea ice flight. Credit: Michael Studinger/NAS

IceBridge scientists and crew finished the first round of survey flights from Thule, Greenland and moved their base of operations south to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.

NASA ER-2 Completes MABEL Science Flight Over Greenland

Ground crew members load fuel aboard NASA's ER-2 research aircraft in Iceland

A NASA ER-2 completed the first MABEL laser altimeter validation flight over northwest Greenland on Easter Sunday.

NASA ER-2 Arrives in Iceland for MABEL Validation

The icy expanse of Greenland from the cockpit of a NASA ER-2

A NASA ER-2 Earth science aircraft has arrived in Keflavik, Iceland, to begin a series of flights to confirm the accuracy of a new laser altimeter.

IceBridge International Collaboration

Flight path of the NASA P-3 Orion in yellow during the joint sea ice science mis

NASA’s Operation IceBridge and the European Space Agency’s CryoVEx campaign coordinated flights of two aircraft from different locations over the Arctic Ocean on a track flown shortly before by ESA’s CryoSat-2 spacecraft.

NASA ER-2 to Check Out MABEL Laser Altimeter

NASA's ER-2 Earth Resources aircraft No. 806

A NASA ER-2 Earth Resources aircraft will fly a number of high-altitude missions this spring to validate the accuracy of a new laser altimeter.

NASA's IceBridge 2012 Arctic Campaign Takes to the Skies

NASA's P-3B is pulled from the hangar onto the frozen runway at Thule, Greenland

Researchers and flight crew with NASA's Operation IceBridge, an airborne mission to study changes in polar ice, begin the 2012 Arctic campaign.

NASA Plans Airborne Scientific Study in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Researchers will probe the Southeast Asian atmosphere at a time when weather systems and air pollution pump chemicals and particles high into the air.

UAVSAR Installed on JSC G-III for AirMOSS Study

NASA's Gulfstream III Aircraft No. 992

Technicians at NASA Dryden recently installed a synthetic aperture radar on a Johnson Space Center Gulfstream III for planned Earth science mission.

NASA Completes GCPEx Snow Study over Canada

NASA DC-8 in flight

NASA's DC-8 airborne science laboratory completes six-week Global Cold-season Precipitation Experiment mission, returns to Palmdale base.

NASA Science Aircraft to Travel the Globe in 2012

Student operates Whole Air Sampler on NASA DC-8

NASA's Airborne Science Program operates highly specialized aircraft that will be deployed all over the world in 2012 for Earth science missions.

NASA's GCPEX Mission: What We Don't Know about Snow

snowflakes

A Snow Video Imager near a Canadian research station in Egbert, Ontario, captured these falling snowflakes as part of NASA's GCPEx mission.

NASA's G-III Completes Hawaiian Volcano Study

Kilauea Volcano

NASA’s G-III research aircraft has completed a week-long airborne radar study to aid understanding of processes occurring under the Kilauea volcano.

Airborne Campaign to Measure Falling Snow

NASA DC-8

Beginning Jan. 17, NASA will fly an airborne science laboratory above Canadian snowstorms to tackle a difficult challenge facing the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission -- measuring snowfall from space.

NASA G-III Repeats Hawaiian Volcano UAVSAR Study

NASA's Gulfstream-III

NASA’s G-III research aircraft returns to Hawaii for a week-long UAVSAR study to aid understanding of processes occurring under the Kilauea volcano.

NASA Studies Crop Canopy Water Content, Soil Moisture

NASA's DC-8 airborne science laboratory flew low over San Joaquin Valley farm fi

Sensors on three NASA science aircraft recorded data on water fluctuation between soil and the atmosphere over California's San Joaquin Valley.

High-flying NASA ER-2 Undergoes Major Inspection and Maintenance

NASA ER-2

NASA photographer Tom Tschida gets some unusual perspectives on the high-flying Earth science aircraft as it is disassembled for major maintenance.