Skip to main content

Successfully Concludes ATTREX 2014 Mission: NASA

Officials with the American space agency announced recently that the 2014 Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment (ATTREX) concluded successfully on March 14. This mission was part of a multi-year science campaign aimed at better understanding the tropopause, one of the most mysterious layers of Earth's atmosphere. 

 The research was made using scientific instruments installed aboard a NASA Global Hawk unmanned aerial system (UAS), which carried out several flights from the Andersen Air Force Base on Guam Island, in the western Pacific. All scientific tools on the aircraft are designed to offer a glimpse into the inner workings of the upper atmosphere.

 The overarching goal of the ATTREX campaign is to figure out how these changes will affect our planet's climate in the long run, especially in combination with greenhouse and ozone-depleting gases. This year's leg of the mission began on February 13 and lasted for a full month. The Global Hawk returned home early on Friday morning, March 14. 

 The aircraft landed at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, which is located at the Edwards Air Force Base, in California. The Global Hawk carried out a total of seven long-duration science flights, for a grand total of 121 hours spent in the air. ATTREX has until now logged 297 flight hours.

 “The western Pacific region is critical for establishing the humidity of the air entering the stratosphere,” explained the principal investigator for ATTREX, Eric Jensen. The expert holds an appointment with the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) in Moffett Field, California. The 13 research instruments on Global Hawk 872 helped the team collect sufficient data from this year to support the ATTREX effort.

 By obtaining a better understanding of the physical processes taking place in the upper reaches of the lowest layers in Earth's atmosphere, scientists hope to soon be able to produce accurate weather and climate predictions. This will come in handy when politicians finally decide to tackle the growing concern that is global warming.

 ATTREX instruments measure both moisture levels and the chemical composition of particles in these layers of the atmosphere. Each year, such data is added to a growing database, which is meant to eventually provide support for other similar investigations or for upcoming climate satellites. 

 Over the years, climate scientists have determined that even slight changes in the chemistry and amount of water vapors in Earth's stratosphere can have significant and immediate effects on planetary climates. However, the exact processes through which this happens remain largely mysterious. Due to experiments such as ATTREX, this may not remain the case for long.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mario Balotelli: AC Milan reject claims the striker is about to leave

AC Milan have released a statement to deny speculation that Italy striker Mario Balotelli could leave in January. They were responding to reports in Italy that Milan president Silvio Berlusconi had decided to sell him. "AC Milan firmly and absolutely deny statements that have been attributed to the chairman about Mario Balotelli being put on the transfer list," the Serie A club's statement  said . The ex-Man City striker has scored six goals in 12 league games this season. He moved to the San Siro in January for an initial fee of 22m euros (£19m). Last season he racked up 12 goals for the seven-time European champions in only 13 Serie A appearances.
Post a Comment
Read more

Al-Jazeera demands Egypt release four journalists

  Qatar-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera has demanded the release of four of its journalists seized by Egyptian police in Cairo at the weekend. They include its Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and former BBC correspondent Peter Greste. The journalists had held illegal meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood, the interior ministry said. Al-Jazeera said it had been "subject to harassment" although not officially banned from working in Egypt. There has been a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood since the army ousted President Mohammed Morsi in July. Last week it was declared a terrorist group. In the past six months, more than 1,000 pro-Morsi protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces, and thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been arrested, including the majority of its leadership. A court will hear a case to disband the Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), on 15 February. 'Arbitrary' The four journ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Justin Bieber all over Selena Gomez at party

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were all over each other at a friend's birthday party. The 'Baby' hitmaker rented out the Lucky Strike bowling alley in Los Angeles on Sunday night for their pal Ryan Butler's intimate celebration, and couldn't keep his hands off the 'Come & Get It' singer at the party. A source told E! News: ''Justin rented out Lucky Strike's Luxe room for the celebration. Additionally, he was seen kissing and flirting with his on-and-off again girlfriend, Selena Gomez.'' The insider added: ''The group, of about 12 people in all, enjoyed some of Lucky Strike's Esteban's Nacho's Grande, Cheeseburgers and wings. Specifically, Justin was seen eating the Mac & Cheese bites.'' Ryan's girlfriend posted a photograph of Selena, 22, gazing at Justin, 20, on Instagram from the party. The Canadian star confirmed during a deposition last week that he has reunited with his on-again, off...
Post a Comment
Read more