NASA Aircraft Examine Impact of Forest Fires on Arctic Climate

PRESS RELEASE Date Released: Friday, June 27, 2008 Source: Ames Research Center - Comments As the summer fire season heats up, NASA aircraft are set to follow the trail of smoke plumes from some of Earth's northernmost forest fires, examining their contribution to arctic pollution and implications for climate change. Starting June 29, NASA's DC-8 and P-3B aircraft, based at a Canadian military base in Cold Lake, Alberta, will begin their final three-week deployment of the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites, or ARCTAS, mission. A third NASA aircraft, the B-200 King Air, will fly from Yellowknife, Canada. The mission is the most extensive field campaign ever to study the chemistry of the Arctic's lower atmosphere. The three airborne laboratories are equipped to fly through the... [read full story]