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After nearly a decade of planning, this field campaign

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happened to be here just as an unusually dry season

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led to some of the most intense and large fires the region had

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experienced in the last five years.

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We came here to look at the transport of smoke and what smoke does

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in the environment and particularly as it impacts clouds.

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And we had an amazingly intense

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smoke event that carried very high concentrations of smoke

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into a place called the Sulu Sea.

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You might be surprised to learn that fires affect cloud formation…

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and NASA is studying that dynamic relationship.

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NASA is a big and capable organization, but Earth science is a subject

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far too big for one country, one agency

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to tackle all by itself.

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And when you can’t do it by yourself, you call up your colleagues halfway across the globe.

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[music]

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NASA EXPLORERS

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EPISODE FOUR
CHASING CLOUDS

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FIRES

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We’re in the Philippines to better understand how tiny particles

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from smoke and pollution affect cloud formation.

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The campaign is called the Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes

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Philippines Experiment – CAMP2Ex.

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The 2 is silent. That’s just a joke. But the acronym?

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That’s serious. This project has implications for millions of people.

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I’m the program scientist for CAMP2Ex

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and while I’m here, I’m sort of the decision-maker

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of last resort, if something comes up.

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We caught up with Hal between meetings in the hanger. Along with Jeffrey Reid,

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from the Naval Research Laboratory, he’s responsible for overseeing this large,

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collaborative effort in real time -- making sure the team is

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meeting their scientific goals, while also keeping researchers from institutions

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around the U.S. and the Philippines working together smoothly.

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A critical part of the process was the relationship built

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built through time. That relationship enabled us to really work

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together and think about

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what would be the questions that would be relevant to us in the Philippines and in general

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to the region. I’m Gemma Theresa Narisma

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and I’m the executive director of the Manila Observatory.

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The Manila Observatory, along with NASA, the Naval Research Laboratory

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and a handful of university partners are using two research planes

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and measurements from a ship to look at the properties of clouds

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to improve satellite measurements in the region.

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Satellites find it difficult to see quote-unquote this region

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and regional climate models are having a hard time

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capturing these processes.

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That basically means planes, ships and teams on the ground need to fill in the missing details.

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Which brings us back to the most intense fire season in five years.

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We were able to get the P-3 into

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that smoke and make

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absolutely unique and important measurements.

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It’s important because if we cannot get

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the historical observations in our model, then we’re not so certain

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whether our climate projections are correct.

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When the planes aren’t flying, the science teams and flight crews

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take turns visiting local schools, from elementary up through university.

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Elementary school students can understand

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remarkably complicated concepts, and so it’s kind of fun

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to introduce them to things they may not

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have known or thought about before and it’s remarkable how

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quickly they pick up on it.

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At these schools, the scientists are treated like rock stars.

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We’ve had just an amazing response from the Philippines students

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Many autographs and more selfies than I can count.

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Some even said that they want to become

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meteorologists themselves to help carry on the study of our home planet and how it’s changing.

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I feel hopeful.

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We’re not getting any younger and the number of atmospheric scientists

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in the Philippines, in the world, but particularly in the Philippines, is quite small.

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And the kind of work that needs to be done

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to understand the different atmospheric processes in the region

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is quite a lot.

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We are so dependent on this Earth because we live here, we have to breathe here

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and find things to eat here, it’s important

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that we understand it, so that we don’t inadvertently

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cause damage that would affect us all.

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On the next episode of NASA Explorers

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What we're seeing is that, areas that have been flammable are becoming more flammable,

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pushing those systems into either extreme conditions

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or a year-round fire season where fires are literally possible at any time.

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Episode Five: The New Normal
NASA