DC-8 flying over the clouds at sunset during the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) mission.
THE NASA AFRICAN MONSOON MULTIDISCIPLINARY ANALYSES (NAMMA) campaign is a field research investigation sponsored by the Science Mission Directorate of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This mission was based in the Cape Verde Islands, 350 miles off the coast of Senegal in west Africa during August-September 2006. NASA scientists used surface observation networks and aircraft to observe and characterize the evolution and structure of African Easterly Waves (AEWs) and Mesoscale Convective Systems over continental western Africa, and their associated impacts on regional water and energy budgets. NASA made extensive use of its orbiting satellites (including Aqua, TRMM, and Cloudsat/CALIPSO) and modeling capabilities to improve its forecasts and flight plans.
The major research topics of this mission were the formation and evolution of tropical hurricanes in the eastern and central Atlantic and their impact on the U.S. east coast, the composition and structure of the Saharan Air Layer, and whether aerosols affect cloud precipitation and influence cyclone development. NASA's DC-8 medium altitude research aircraft served as the primary research tool for the NAMMA investigations. The aircraft was outfitted with in situ and remote atmospheric research instrumentation, flying a complement of 40 crew and scientists conducting up to 8-hour missions every two or three days over the eastern Atlantic Ocean. The DC-8 was flown in coordination with NASA's NPOL and TOGA research weather radars, balloon soundings, and the SMART-COMMIT mobile research ground stations, measuring chemical, optical, microphysical, and radiative properties of the atmosphere. Scientists from NASA centers including Ames Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Langley Research Center, Marshall Space Flight Center and multiple universities contributed to the success of the NAMMA mission. Additionally, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hurricane Research Division collaborated with NASA through a complimentary Saharan Air Layer Experiment (SALEX 2006) in the Caribbean Sea in which NOAA tracked and continued the study of individual AEWs and tropical storms downwind of the NAMMA area as they move d westward across the Atlantic Ocean. |
