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2008 Atmospheric Research Technical Highlights (PDF, 18.6 NASA/TM—2009–214181 Laboratory for Atmospheres 2008 Technical Highlights August 2009 COVER PHOTO CaptIONS Top Left: California Fire Sampling California air quality during the ARCTAS-CARB field experiment in summer 2008. The wild fire was encountered and sampled by the DC-8 aircraft. (Photo taken by Mian Chin onboard of DC-8.) Bottom Left: North Pole Flight-1: Sampling the Arctic Haze, ozone depletion events, and long-range transport of pollution and smoke. Photo showing the NASA DC-8 doing measurements near the surface during the spring phase ARCTAS field experiment over the Arctic Ocean. (Photo taken by Mian Chin on board of DC-8.) Top Right: Forecast People The model forecast and satellite support team in front of the Elvey Building in University of Alaska during the spring phase of the ARCTAS field experiment. Several Lab scientists are in the photo. Middle Right: North Pole Flight-2 Sampling the Arctic Haze and long-range transport of pollution and smoke during the spring phase of ARCTAS over Alaska. (Photo taken by Mian Chin on board of DC-8.) Bottom Right: P3B People Photo showing the P-3B crew, scientists from instrument, model forecast, and satellite support teams in front of the NASA P-3B aircraft during the ARCTAS field experiment in Canada, summer 2008. Several Lab scientists are in the photo. NASA/TM—2009–214181 Laboratory for Atmospheres 2008 Technical Highlights National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 August 2009 The NASA STI Program Offi ce … in Profi le Since its founding, NASA has been ded i cated to the • CONFERENCE PUBLICATION. Collected ad vancement of aeronautics and space science. The pa pers from scientifi c and technical conferences, NASA Sci en tifi c and Technical Information (STI) symposia, sem i nars, or other meetings spon sored Pro gram Offi ce plays a key part in helping NASA or co spon sored by NASA. maintain this impor tant role. • SPECIAL PUBLICATION. Scientifi c, tech ni cal, The NASA STI Program Offi ce is operated by or historical information from NASA pro grams, Langley Research Center, the lead center for projects, and mission, often concerned with sub- NASAʼs scientifi c and technical in for ma tion. The jects having substan tial public interest. NASA STI Program Offi ce pro vides ac cess to the NASA STI Database, the largest collec tion of • TECHNICAL TRANSLATION. En glish-language aero nau ti cal and space science STI in the world. trans la tions of foreign scien tifi c and tech ni cal ma- The Pro gram Offi ce is also NASAʼs in sti tu tion al terial pertinent to NASAʼs mis sion. mecha nism for dis sem i nat ing the results of its research and devel op ment activ i ties. These results Specialized services that complement the STI Pro- are published by NASA in the NASA STI Report gram Offi ceʼs diverse offerings include cre at ing Series, which includes the following report types: custom thesau ri, building customized data bas es, organizing and publish ing research results . even • TECHNICAL PUBLICATION. Reports of pro vid ing videos. com pleted research or a major signifi cant phase of research that present the results of NASA pro- For more information about the NASA STI Pro gram grams and include exten sive data or theo ret i cal Offi ce, see the following: analysis. Includes compi la tions of sig nifi cant • Access the NASA STI Program Home Page at scientifi c and technical data and in for ma tion http://www.sti.nasa.gov/STI-homepage.html deemed to be of continu ing ref er ence value. NASAʼs counterpart of peer-re viewed formal • E-mail your question via the Internet to pro fes sion al papers but has less stringent limi ta - [email protected] tions on manuscript length and extent of graphic pre sen ta tions. • Fax your question to the NASA Access Help Desk at (443) 757-5803 • TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM. Scientifi c and techni cal fi ndings that are pre lim i nary or of • Telephone the NASA Access Help Desk at (443) spe cialized interest, e.g., quick release reports, 757-5802 working papers, and bib li og ra phies that contain • Write to: minimal annotation. Does not contain extensive NASA Access Help Desk analysis. NASA Center for AeroSpace In for ma tion • CONTRACTOR REPORT. Scientifi c and techni- 7115 Standard Drive cal fi ndings by NASA-sponsored con trac tors and Hanover, MD 21076–1320 grantees. Available from: NASA Center for AeroSpace Information National Technical Information Service 7115 Standard Drive 5285 Port Royal Road Hanover, MD 21076-1320 Springfield, VA 22161 Price Code: A17 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 Dear Reader: Welcome to the Laboratory for Atmospheres’ 2008 Technical Highlights report. I thank you for your interest. We publish this report each year to describe our research and to summarize our accomplishments. This document is intended for a broad audience. Our readers include colleagues within NASA, scientists outside the Agency, science graduate students, and members of the general public. Inside are descriptions of our organization and facilities, our major activities and science highlights, and our education and outreach accomplishments for calendar year 2008. The Laboratory’s approximately 237 scientists, technologists, and administrative personnel are part of the Earth Sciences Division in the Sciences and Exploration Directorate of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The Laboratory for Atmospheres is continuing our mission of advancing knowledge and understand- ing of Earth’s atmosphere. Satellite missions, and related algorithm development, field campaigns, and related modeling and data analyses, and data set development are important components of the Lab’s science activities. These activi- ties are helping us better understand our home planet’s environment, and are increasing our knowledge of the complex physics and chemistry of the atmosphere. The following are some noteworthy events that took place during 2008. Many laboratory scientists partici- pated in the international Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) program to study the impact of boreal wildfire smoke, transported pollution particles, ozone, and other atmospheric gases on the Arctic environment. ARCTAS involves over 300 researchers, and deploys more than 20 instruments on three NASA aircraft, including ground stations, and remote sensing observations from multiple NASA Earth Observing System satellites. Laboratory scientists also played a critical role in the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Ancillary Facility (AAF/SMART1-COMMIT2) deployment in China during the Asian Monsoon Year (AMY-2008) to acquire comprehensive ground-based observations for aerosol-cloud-water cycle studies. Measurements are being taken in China for dust aerosols originating at the Taklimakan and the great Gobi deserts. These, and other campaigns are described in detail in Sec- tion 4 in this report. Others include the development of three instruments funded from NASA’s Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) continued, and test flights for two (TWiLiTE3 and HIWRAP4) scheduled in 2009; planning of the Global Hawk Pacific Experiment (GloPac), which will be the first science mission flown on the NASA Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS). As in previous years, Laboratory scientists garnered many top professional honors. Wei-Kuo Tao (613) re- ceived the William Nordberg Award for his outstanding long-term contributions to advancing fundamental understanding of how cloud systems work, his leadership in Earth System modeling and his devotion to nurturing the next generation of Earth scientists. A. Douglass (613.3) was elected by the AMS Council for a three year term. Gerry Heymsfield and Steve Platnick received NASA Honor Awards, Dave Whiteman 1. SMART: Surface-sensing Measurements for Atmospheric Radiative Transfer 2. COMMIT: Chemical, Optical, and Microphysical Measurements of In situ Troposphere 3. TWiLiTE: Tropospheric Wind Lidar Technology Experiment 4. HIWRAP: High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler received a Goddard Honor Award and a NASA Group Achievement Award was received for the TC4 mission that took place in Costa Rica in 2007. The year 2008 was also a time to bid farewell to Dick Stewart, Dick Hartle, Jim Spinhirne, Rich Lawrence, Yogesh Sud, and Hans Mayr. Dick Stewart retired after 43 years of service. As the Laboratory Assistant Chief, he edited the last 7 issues of this annual report. Dick Hartle assumed a new role as Chief Scientist in Code 670. Jim Spinhirne retired after 31 years, and returned to research at the University of Texas. Rich Lawrence served 19 years at NASA including managing the budgets for the Precipitation Measure- ment Missions (PMM) project. Hans Mayr devoted 41 years to NASA and was recently the Project Scientist for the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission. Yogesh Sud retired after 29 years in NASA where he worked on improving the physics of general circulation models. I am pleased to welcome Bill Heaps, Lazaros Oraiopoulos, Charles Ichoku, Karen Mohr, Bryant Duncan, and Tom Hanisco to our Laboratory’s civil servant staff. Bill Heaps is returning after many years in engineering organiza- tions developing lidar systems. Lazaros Oraiopoulos brings years of experience in the areas of cloud-aerosol and radiation interactions, and detection from space of 3D cloud effects through spectral analysis. Charles Ichoku’s research is focused on the global occurrence, distribution, radiative properties, and aerosols (particularly fires), and their effects on climate. Karen Mohr is an expert on regional hydroclimate, and precipitation processes. Bryant Duncant works on stratospheric and tropospheric chemistry, and will add strength to our atmospheric chemistry modeling team. Tom Hanisco is one of the best young experimentalists in the atmospheric sciences. He has worked on design, building, and operations of five different in situ instruments, and has participated in a number of NASA aircraft field campaigns.
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