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Current Missions

Start the Real Time Mission Monitor for ARCTAS [User Guide] [Please note that you must have previously installed Google Earth to run the Real Time Mission Monitor]

The Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) will take place as two 3-week aircraft deployments, in spring and summer 2008. It will involve the NASA DC-8 as an in situ platform for detailed atmospheric composition. Two other aircraft, the NASA P-3 and the NASA B-200 are focusing more closely on aerosols and radiation. The P-3 serves as a remote sensing platform generally flying constant altitude transects in the middle to upper troposphere. The B-200 is a profiling aircraft for examining radiative fluxes and in situ aerosol properties. The spring (April 1 – 22) deployment in Fairbanks, Alaska will target anthropogenic pollution including arctic haze, stratosphere-troposphere exchange, and sunrise photochemistry including halogen radicals. The summer deployment (June 26 – July 14) in Cold Lake, Alberta will target boreal forest fires, stratosphere-troposphere exchange, and summertime photochemistry.

Science Themes

ARCTAS has four major scientific themes:

• Long-range transport of pollution to the Arctic including arctic haze, tropospheric ozone, and persistent pollutants such as mercury;
• Boreal forest fires and their implications for atmospheric composition and climate;
• Aerosol radiative forcing from arctic haze, boreal fires, surface-deposited black carbon, and other perturbations;
• Chemical processes with focus on ozone, aerosols, mercury, and halogens.

Role of the Real Time Mission Monitor

The Real Time Mission Monitor will provide simultaneous aircraft tracking for all three aircraft during the ARCTAS experiments. During ARCTAS, the NASA DC-8, P-3, and B-200 will fly missions at various altitudes and tracks. RTMM will facilitate mission planning by providing satellite overpass projections and atmospheric model forecasts. During missions, RTMM integrates satellite imagery, aircraft state information, and surface data sets into a single easy to use visualization package. Post-mission playbacks enable the scientist to review the completed flight missions. The spring science flights are scheduled for April 1-22, 2008. The exact flight schedule will be decided on a day-to-day basis.