Airborne Science NASA Global Hawk Landing at Wallops Flight Facility Missions

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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center National Aeronautics and Space Administration Wallops Flight Facility

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Aircraft Office, located at Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island VA, provides operation, maintenance, engineering, airworthi- ness, and mission support of assigned aircraft and UAS as well as planning and conducting Airborne Science NASA Global Hawk landing at Wallops Flight Facility missions. The Aircraft Office explores new areas of aircraft/UAS support and plans for capabilities to accommo- In support of the hurricane research missions date them, develops and implements rules and proce- that are flown using the Global Hawk, the T-34 dures required to ensure the effective management of Turbomentor is used to accompany the Global aircraft/UAS operations, and provides safety and quality Hawk as it departs and returns to the local area. assurance oversight of all aircraft/UAS functions. The Although the WFF pilots who are remotely flying WFF Aircraft Office also supports logistical airlift needs, the Global Hawk are able to “see and avoid” range surveillance, recovery operations, and a wide array other aircraft, a WFF piloted T-34 “chase” air- of other aircraft/UAS functions. NASA aircraft types craft provides a second set of eyes to ensure assigned to WFF include: P-3 Orion, C-23 Sherpa, C-130 absolute safety. Hercules, B-200 King Air, T-34 Turbomentor, and UH-1 Huey. The knowledge and expertise of our personnel and aircrews, along with specific aircraft/UAS capabilities, CARVE allows us to support any type of mission from commercial/ military airfields to austere locations worldwide. The WFF The Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Aircraft Office is committed to safe, reliable, on-time, and Experiment (CARVE) mission is based from cost effective flight operations. Fairbanks, Alaska and takes place during Spring, Summer and Fall of 2012 through 2015.

Cover photo: NASA P-3 Orion landing at McMurdo Station, Ant- arctica. Photo credit Michael Studinger.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA C-23 Sherpa in Fairbanks Alaska Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility NASA’s WFF is supporting CARVE by providing 34200 Fulton St an Arctic-proven C-23 Sherpa aircraft to fly an Wallops Island, VA 23337 innovative airborne remote sensing payload. www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops

CARVE will provide an integrated set of data to www.nasa.gov enable insights into Arctic carbon cycling.

NP-2015--6-299-GSFC

www.nasa.gov science airborne Operation IceBridge The NASA WFF P-3 Orion and an Armstrong ACT-America Flight Research Center ER-2 will be used to con- Since 2009, NASA’s Operation IceBridge has filled duct the investigation, flying out of Walvis Bay, the gap between the end of the Ice, Cloud and land The Atmospheric Carbon and Transport-America Namibia and probing the aerosol/cloud interac- Elevation Satellite (ICESat) operations and the be- (ACT-America) mission will deploy the NASA WFF tions over the southeast Atlantic during the African ginning of the ICESat-2 satellite mission. It yields an C-130 and Langley Research Center UC-12 air- burning season (August-October). A major unprecedented, annual, 3D view of Arctic and Ant- craft to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide strength of the ORACLES investigations concept arctic ice sheets, ice shelves, and sea ice. (CO2) and methane (CH4) over the central and stems from the combination of in situ aerosol in- eastern U.S. during all four seasons 2015-2018 Operation IceBridge comprises the largest research strumentation with remote sensing and radiation under a variety of weather conditions. Along with campaign ever flown over Earth’s polar regions. The instruments on the P-3. information from existing satellites and ground mission is designed to continue critical ice sheet networks, this comprehensive data set will be measurements to help scientists understand how used to improve our understanding of how mid- much the major ice sheets of Greenland and Antarc- NAAMES latitude weather systems interact with CO2 and tica could contribute to sea level rise. CH4 sources and sinks to create CO2/CH4 distribu- The North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems tions. The mission will enable and demonstrate a Study (NAAMES) is an interdisciplinary investigation new generation of atmospheric inversion modeling

focused on marine ecosystems and aerosol proper- systems for quantifying regional CO2 and CH4 ties in the North Atlantic. sources and sinks.

Research flights by NASA’s C-130 aircraft will be coordinated with a University-National Oceano- graphic Laboratory System (UNOLS) research ves- sel. The ship-based measurements will provide de- NASA P-3 Orion at McMurdo Station, Antarctica with tailed characterization of plankton stocks in the Mount Erebus in the background North Atlantic. Parallel airborne remote sensing measurements and in situ aerosol sampling will NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility’s (WFF) P-3 Orion is provide the link between local-scale processes and the primary research aircraft supporting Operation properties quantified at the basin-scale through sat- IceBridge and has operated from Greenland and ellite remote sensing. Through integration of ship, NASA C-130 Hercules at Thule Air Base in Greenland Antarctica. While the P-3 Orion undergoes wing replacement in 2015, the NASA WFF C-130 Hercu- airborne, modeling, satellite and autonomous sen- les aircraft will be utilized. sor approaches, predictions of ocean ecosystem and aerosol changes in the ocean are improved. Hurricane Research

NASA’s Global Hawk Unmanned Aircraft System ORACLES (UAS) has conducted airborne science missions from NASA WFF to study hurricanes each fall ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above since 2012. CLouds and their intEractionS) is a multi-year investigation with three deployments designed to The Global Hawk UAS can fly more than 24 probe how smoke particles from biomass burning hours enabling researchers to gather data over in Africa influence cloud cover over the Atlantic large portions of the Atlantic Ocean to aid in the Ocean. NASA C-130 on takeoff with nadir port visible study of hurricane formation and intensity.