ATom Postcard - Alaska and the Arctic
On its second worldwide tour, the Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) team starts by surveying the north’s polar regions during winter, which is marked by a build-up of pollution from the United States, Canada, northern China, and Russia. In the spring, sunlight spurs chemical reactions that remove those pollutants and greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Music credit: Ice Lands by Rik Carter [PRS]
Complete transcript available.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Producers
- Ellen T. Gray (NASA/HQ)
- Kathryn Mersmann (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Related pages
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ID: 12355 Produced Video
ATom Postcard - Azore Islands to Kangerlussuaq
Read moreAtmospheric scientists Bernadett Weinzierl of the University of Vienna, Paul Newman of Goddard Space Flight Center, and Róisín Commane of Harvard University sent back a video postcard from the last three legs of the Atmospheric Tomography, or ATom mission. Departing Ascension Island in the tropics, the science team traveled up the Atlantic to Terceira Island in the Azores off the coast of Portugal, and then back to the Arctic by way of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. Finally the team crossed North America to return home to Palmdale, California. ||
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ID: 12540 Produced Video
ATom Postcard - Ascension Island to the Azores Islands
Read moreAtmospheric scientist Róisín Commane of Harvard University sent back a video postcard from Ascension Island and the Azores Islands, the seventh and eighth legs of the Atmospheric Tomography, or ATom mission. Flying over the Atlantic Ocean, the science team saw evidence of fires in Africa and dust from the Sahara.Complete transcript available. || The ATom mission aboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft and flying laboratory is sampling world-wide in one of the most extensive surveys of the atmosphere to date, measuring over 200 gases as well as airborne particles. The science team is particularly interested in methane, tropospheric ozone and black carbon particles, which have strong effects on climate and which all have both human and natural origins. ||
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ID: 12518 Produced Video
ATom Postcard - Kona, Hawaii
Read moreAtmospheric scientist Jack Dibb of the University of New Hampshire sent a video postcard from the Hawaii leg of the Atmospheric Tomography or ATom mission. On its second worldwide tour, the ATom team flew into Kona, Hawaii, to study small particles like sulfate and nitrate in the atmosphere. Volcanoes like Kilauea, in Hawaii, constantly release sulfate particles, which can oxidize to make sulfuric acid, a component of acid rain. Complete transcript available. || The ATom mission aboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft and flying laboratory is sampling world-wide in one of the most extensive surveys of the atmosphere to date, measuring over 200 gases as well as airborne particles. The science team is particularly interested in methane, tropospheric ozone and black carbon particles, which have strong effects on climate and which all have both human and natural origins. ||
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ID: 12488 B-Roll
ATom B-Roll
Read moreThe Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission takes flight through Earth's atmosphere to understand how short-lived greenhouse gases like ozone and methane contribute to climate change. A suite of instruments aboard NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory will be taking measurements as the science team flies down the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to the southern tip of South America, then north up the Atlantic to Greenland to measure more than 200 gases and particles in the air and their interactions around the world. B-roll available here is from the July 28, 2016, science flight from to the equator and back from Palmdale, California.For more information: NASA Airborne Study Surveys Greenhouse Gases in World Tour: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasa-airborne-study-surveys-greenhouse-gases-in-world-tourNASA Airborne mission Chases Air Pollution Through the Seasons: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-airborne-mission-chases-air-pollution-through-the-seasons ||
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ID: 12354 Produced Video
ATom Postcard - Punta Arenas to Ascension Island
Read morePostcard #3Atmospheric scientist Róisín Commane and Principal Investigator Steven Wofsy both of Harvard University sent back a video postcard from the Atlantic legs of the Atmospheric Tomography, or ATom mission. The science team left Christchurch New Zealand and traveled past Antarctica to Punta Arenas, Chile at the bottom of the world. Then they went up the Atlantic Ocean to Ascension Island, just south of the equator. || The ATom mission aboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft and flying laboratory is sampling world-wide in one of the most extensive surveys of the atmosphere to date, measuring over 200 gases as well as airborne particles. The science team is particularly interested in methane, tropospheric ozone and black carbon particles, which have strong effects on climate and which all have both human and natural origins. ||
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ID: 12350 Produced Video
ATom Mission interview clips
Read moreThe ATom mission aboard NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory is sampling world-wide in one of the most extensive surveys of the atmosphere to date, measuring over 200 gases as well as airborne particles. The science team is particularly interested in methane, tropospheric ozone and black carbon particles, which have strong effects on climate and which all have both human and natural origins.Below are interviews with four scientists participating in the research flights:* Donald Blake, UC Irvine* Róisín Commane, Harvard University* Tom Ryerson, NOAA* Jack Dibbs, University of New HampshireFollow along with all eight of our #EarthExpeditions here: http://www.nasa.gov/earthexpeditions ||
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ID: 12342 Produced Video
ATom Postcard - Samoa to New Zealand
Read morePrincipal Investigator Steven Wofsy of Harvard University and atmospheric scientist Paul Newman of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center sent back a video postcard of the second two legs of the Atmospheric Tomography, or ATom mission. They and the science team traversed the tropical Pacific from Kona, Hawaii to Pago Pago, American Samoa, and then to Christchurch, New Zealand. || The ATom mission aboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft and flying laboratory is sampling world-wide in one of the most extensive surveys of the atmosphere to date, measuring over 200 gases as well as airborne particles. The science team is particularly interested in methane, tropospheric ozone and black carbon particles, which have strong effects on climate and which all have both human and natural origins. ||
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