Guest post by NOAA scientist Joshua “Shuka” Schwarz To accomplish the science goals of Atom, every scientific instrument on the NASA DC8 is tenderly cared for. In the case of the Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) an instrument for quantifying black carbon aerosol concentration, this care includes gentle heating after cold nights, frequent laser… Read More
On August 3rd, the ATom mission moved on from Alaska to Kona, on the big island of Hawai’i. The schedule allowed for two days on the ground in Kona, and for many of the crew, this allowed a much welcome day off. CIRES/NOAA scientist Jeff Peischl was able to squeeze in a day of sight-seeing:… Read More
The ATom mission is officially underway! But not without some minor technical difficulties… Following the first test flight, the DC-8 crew reported a “humming” sound that seemed to emanate from one of the sampling inlets on the starboard side of the aircraft. The crew subsequently flew several additional check flights to find the source of… Read More
The NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission is ramping up. With only 9 days left until our first science flight, the instrument teams have been busy this last month installing their equipment on the NASA DC-8 in the hangar at the Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in Palmdale, California. Palmdale is located in the high desert… Read More
Today is Sunday. It is arguably one of the most beautiful days we have had so far this year in Boulder, and Boulder is arguably one of the most beautiful places to spend the day outdoors. I wish I could tell you that I am about to climb one of those Flatirons, but alas, that… Read More
In less than one month, science teams will begin descending upon the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California to prepare for an ambitious project that will nearly circumnavigate the globe collecting measurements of greenhouse gases, reactive gases and atmospheric aerosols from NASA DC-8 aircraft. The Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) aims to study the… Read More
