In the first weeks of April, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send DC-8, P-3 and B-200 aircraft over the skies of the Arctic carrying instruments to measure air pollution gases and aerosols and solar radiation. In these airborne laboratories, researchers will take a special interest in the formation of the springtime “arctic haze.” The return of sunlight to the Arctic in the spring fuels chemical reactions of pollutants that have accumulated over the winter after traveling long distances from lower latitudes.

 According to a news release from NASA, the new aircraft observations also will help researchers interpret data from satellites orbiting over the Arctic. Interpreting satellite data can be difficult in the Arctic because of extensive cloud cover, bright reflective surfaces from snow and ice, and cold surface temperatures. For example, it’s difficult for researchers to look at satellite data and distinguish between light reflected by clouds and light reflected from white ice cover.  

“The Arctic is a poster child of global change and we don’t understand the processes that are driving that rapid change,” said Daniel Jacob, a scientist with the participating project called the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS).

A second phase of the ARCTAS project takes place this summer from Cold Lake in Alberta, Canada, where flights will focus on measurements of emissions from forest fires.

ARCTAS  is NASA’s contribution to an international series of Arctic field experiments that is part of the International Polar Year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Energy also are sponsoring research flights from Fairbanks this month in collaboration with NASA.