Earth ID: 12966

Measuring the Atmosphere on ATom's Final Flight Around the World

Released on June 6, 2018

NASA's Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission team just finished their final trip around the world, taking atmospheric samples from all over our home planet. Flying in NASA's DC-8 plane, the scientists and engineers collected their samples during four different trips, one for each season, to see how the atmosphere changed across fall, winter, spring and summer.

Christina Williamson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) studies aerosols, tiny particles in the air, either blown up from Earth's surface or forming in the atmosphere. These particles can affect the climate and human health, so understanding them better can help improve models and quality of life.

Music: Pleasant Flight by David Backes [GEMA], Peter Moslener [GEMA]

Complete transcript available.

Reem Hannun operates the airborne formaldehyde instrument on ATom. The instrument uses laser spectroscopy to measure formaldehyde levels in the air, which can help researchers learn more about the lifespan of greenhouse gases like methane.

Music: Discreet Momentum by Theo Golding [PRS]

Complete transcript available.

Credits

Kathryn Mersmann (USRA): Lead Producer
Ellen T. Gray (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Lead Writer
Michael J. Agnew (Arcata): Videographer

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12966

This item is part of this series:
Narrated Movies

Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Chemistry/Carbon and Hydrocarbon Compounds >> Formaldehyde
NASA Science >> Earth
SVS >> Tomography

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0