News

  • The second Cloud Physics Lidar built to fly on NASA's unmanned Global Hawk aircraft. In this summer's Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel or HS3 mission, the CPL is studying the changing profile of the atmosphere in detail to learn more about how hurricanes form and strengthen.

    NASA HS3 Instrument Views 2 Dimensions of Clouds

    NASA’s Cloud Physics Lidar instrument is studying the changing profile of the atmosphere to learn more about how hurricanes form and strengthen.

  • Changes in more than 130 Alaskan glaciers are being surveyed by scientists at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in a DHC-3 Otter as part of NASA’s multi-year Operation IceBridge.

    NASA Airborne Campaigns Focus on Climate Impacts in the Arctic

    Over the past few decades, average global temperatures have been on the rise, and this warming is happening two to three times faster in the Arctic.

  • NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, has been monitoring active earthquake faults in California with a number of remote sensing and ground-based techniques.

    NASA Research Aids Response to California Napa Quake

    NASA data and expertise are proving invaluable in California’s ongoing response to the Aug. 24 magnitude 6.0 earthquake in Napa Valley, northeast of San Francisco.

  • NASA's unmanned Global Hawk aircraft flew over Tropical Storm Dolly on Sept. 2 and gathered data. The plot shows wind speeds and wind barbs at 850 and 150 millibars.

    NASA's HS3 Mission Investigates Tropical Storm Dolly

    One of NASA's unmanned Global Hawk aircraft number 872 surveyed Tropical Storm Dolly as part of NASA's latest hurricane airborne mission known as the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel, or HS3 mission.

  • NASA's C-20A Earth science research aircraft with the UAVSAR slung underneath its belly lifts off the runway at Edwards Air Force Base on a prior radar survey mission.

    NASA Radar System Surveys Napa Valley Quake Area

    Sophisticated JPL airborne radar system scans earthquake fault displacements in Northern California's Napa Valley after major quake Aug. 24.

  • The NASA Global Hawk 872 lands at 7:43 a.m. EDT, August 27, at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia following a 22-hour transit flight from its home base at the Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.

    Hurricane Mission Begins with Global Hawk Flight to Cristobal

    The first of two unmanned Global Hawk aircraft landed at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia, on Aug. 27 after surveying Hurricane Cristobal for the first science flight of NASA's latest hurricane airborne mission.

  • NASA’s C-130 aircraft will carry scientists over the Arctic starting this month from northern Greenland and Fairbanks, Alaska.

    NASA to Investigate Climate Impacts of Arctic Sea Ice Loss

    A new NASA field campaign will begin flights over the Arctic this summer to study the effect of sea ice retreat on Arctic climate. The Arctic Radiation IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment (ARISE) will conduct research flights Aug. 28 through Oct. 1, covering the peak of summer sea ice melt.

  • NASA DC-8

    ASCENDS Scientists Test New Technologies in California Skies

    Scientists from NASA's Langley Research Center are in California testing new methods for measuring carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere.

  • NASA ER-2

    Three Radars are Better than One: Field Campaign Demonstrates Two New Instruments

    Never before had NASA flown more than two radar systems, tuned to different frequencies, to measure rainfall from a research aircraft.

  • Arctic snow

    Looking at Snow Depth with NASA Airborne Data

    New research using data from NASA's Operation IceBridge shows that snow depth on Arctic sea ice has been decreasing over the past several decades, a trend largely owing to later sea ice freeze-up dates in the Arctic.

  • NASA is flying airborne research campaigns during 2014 to look at U.S. air quality, hurricanes, and climate change impact on Earth’s polar regions.

    From Pole to Pole, NASA Flying Laboratories Study Our World

    NASA will fly a series of airborne research campaigns to take a closer look at U.S. air quality, hurricanes forming in the Atlantic, and the impact of climate change on Earth’s polar regions.

  • From the ER-2’s cruising altitude of 65,000 feet, the camera system snaps images of an area about 2.5 by 1.5 kilometers (1.6 by 0.9 miles). These melt ponds, formed by snowmelt on Alaskan glaciers, can range in size and shape

    Melt Ponds Shine in NASA Laser Altimeter Flight Images

    Even from 65,000 feet above Earth, aquamarine melt ponds in the Arctic stand out against the white ice sheets and sea ice.

  • Denis Steele sets up a video camera in the cockpit of the ER-2, 65,000 feet over Alaskan mountains and glaciers.

    A Pilot’s Life at 65,000 Feet over Alaska

    Valerie Casasanto blogs about NASA Armstrong pilots Denis Steele and Tim Williams flying the ER-2 over Alaska while confined in a bulky pressure suit.

  • Artist's concept of aircraft with HIRAD scanning a tropical cyclone.

    NASA's HS3 Mission Spotlight: The HIRAD Instrument

    The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer, known as HIRAD, will fly aboard one of two unmanned Global Hawk aircraft during NASA's Hurricane Severe Storm Sentinel or HS3 mission from Wallops beginning August 26 through September 29.

  • Technician Richard Hare installs instruments on NASA's UC-12 aircraft at NASA’s Langley Research Center in preparation for the airborne portion of the SABOR field campaign

    NASA Field Campaign to Probe Ocean Ecology, Carbon Cycle

    NASA embarks on a coordinated ship and aircraft observation campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States, an effort to advance space-based capabilities for monitoring microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain.

  • NASA ER-2

    High-Flying Laser Altimeter to Check Out Summer Sea Ice and More

    NASA’s high-flying laser altimeter begins a campaign to investigate differences between summer and winter sea ice.

  • Professor Donald Blake of the University of California—Irvine outlines procedures for installation of air canisters on NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory to students participating in NASA's 2014 Student Airborne Research Program.

    College Students Study Earth From NASA's DC-8 Flying Lab

    Thirty-two undergraduate students are immersed in NASA's Earth Science research during the 2014 Student Airborne Research Program.

  • With full flaps and speed brakes deployed, one of NASA's high-altitude ER-2 environmental science aircraft descends on final approach to the runway at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif. The research aircraft is based at NASA Armstrong's Bldg. 703 adjacent to the Air Force facility.

    NASA ER-2 Aircraft Continues Earth Ecosystem Research

    The second year of the HyspIRI airborne campaign on the high-altitude ER-2 is gathering data about the health of vegetation in six diverse areas.

  • NASA Widens 2014 Hurricane Research Mission

    During this year's Atlantic hurricane season, NASA is redoubling its efforts to probe the inner workings of hurricanes and tropical storms with two unmanned Global Hawk aircraft flying over storms and two new space-based missions.

  • A view of mountains and sea ice near Thule Air Base, Greenland, from the NASA P-3 on May 6, 2014.

    NASA IceBridge Concludes Arctic Field Campaign

    Researchers with NASA's Operation IceBridge have completed another successful Arctic field campaign. On May 23, NASA's P-3 research aircraft left Thule Air Base, Greenland, and returned to Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia marking the end of 11 weeks of polar research.

  • The synthetic aperture radar developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory mounted on NASA's C-20A research aircraft captured this image of Peru's Ubinas volcano on April 14, 2014,

    NASA Airborne Research Focuses on Andean Volcanoes

    Volcanoes in Central and South America were the targets of a NASA airborne synthetic aperture radar imaging mission in late April and early May 2014.

  • NASA-UCI Study Indicates Loss of West Antarctic Glaciers Appears Unstoppable

    Loss of West Antarctic Glaciers Appears Unstoppable

    A new study by researchers at NASA and the University of California, Irvine, finds a rapidly melting section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet appears to be in an irreversible state of decline, with nothing to stop the glaciers in this area from melting into the sea.

  • ACCESS II Alternative Jet Fuel Flight Tests Begin

    ACCESS II Alternative Jet Fuel Flight Tests Begin

    NASA took to the skies to begin a series of flight tests to gather critical data that may aid in the development of cleaner aircraft fuels.

  • NASA G-III

    California Faults Moved Quietly After Baja Quake

    A new NASA study finds that a major 2010 earthquake in northern Mexico triggered quiet, non-shaking motions on several Southern California faults.

  • Set up on a ranch in Rutherford County, N.C., NASA's Dual-frequency, Dual-polarization, Doppler Radar (D3R) is one of several ground radars measuring rain as it falls from clouds.

    NASA Field Campaign to Measure Appalachian Rainfall

    The weather of mountain regions -- rain, ice, hail, wind, fog -- is difficult to predict. A NASA field campaign in North Carolina aims to change that.

  • The HU-25C Guardian aircraft will look like this when it flies behind NASA's DC-8 as seen in this image from ACCESS I flights in 2013.

    NASA Set to Premiere High-Flying Sequel

    NASA researchers beginning in early May will take to the skies with a DC-8 and other aircraft to conduct a series of flight tests designed to study the effects on emissions and contrail formation of burning alternative fuels in jet engines.

  • Guatemalan volcanoes

    NASA Radar Imaging Mission Travels to Central and South America

    NASA Earth Science mission is focusing on surface deformation near volcanos, forest structure, levees and subsidence in Central and South America.

  • A C-23 Sherpa airborne science aircraft departed Wallops Flight Facility on a journey to conduct Earth science missions in Alaska from May to mid-November.

    C-23 Departs for 6-month Alaska mission

    A C-23 Sherpa airborne science aircraft departed Wallops Flight Facility on a journey to conduct Earth science missions in Alaska from May to mid-November.

  • Students and teachers from Guam High School learn about how ATTREX scientists control their instruments on Global Hawk from the Payload Mobile Operations Facility.

    NASA Brings Science to Life in Guam Classrooms

    In addition to doing cutting-edge atmospheric science, ATTREX team shared the excitement of their scientific mission with students, teachers in Guam.

  • NASA Global Hawk at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam

    NASA Completes ATTREX Flights in Search of Climate Change Clues

    Science flights from Guam during the Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment tracked upper atmosphere changes to help researchers understand how they affect Earth's climate.

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