Media are invited to preview the final deployment of one of NASA’s most ambitious airborne studies of Earth’s atmosphere on Friday, April 13, at Building 703 of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, located in Palmdale, California.
Since 2016, the Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission has studied pollution and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with the agency’s DC-8 flying laboratory. Scheduled to begin in late April, the 26-day journey will take researchers over the North Pole, across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand, and on to the tip of South America before flying over the Atlantic to Greenland and returning to California.
ATom measures more than 200 gases and airborne particles in the atmosphere over the oceans to better understand how gases, such as methane, and ozone and airborne particles, such as black carbon, enter, transform and are ultimately removed from the atmosphere. These processes are key components of Earth’s air quality and climate.
The mission complements NASA’s satellite observations of the major gases of Earth’s atmosphere. With the DC-8 aircraft, ATom makes detailed measurements of atmospheric composition that are difficult or impossible to make from space.
Media will learn about preliminary results on pollution in the global atmosphere from previous ATom flights and will have opportunities to interview lead scientists and mission managers. Media will tour NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, which is outfitted with scientific instruments.
Registration is open for U.S. and foreign media. All interested U.S. citizens and green card holders must request credentials by 5 p.m. EDT Thursday, April 5. The deadline for foreign nationals is 5 p.m. Friday, March 30.
To request credentials, email Armstrong public affairs officer Kate Squires at kate.k.squires@nasa.gov. Include full name as it appears on a valid government-issued photo identification, media affiliation, email address and telephone number.
For more information about ATom, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/earth-expeditions-atom
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