NASA is conducting an extensive field campaign to study the chemistry of the Arctic’s lower atmosphere, and the impact of forest fires on climate change. The Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) mission combines readings from three airborne laboratories aboard DC-8 and P-3B aircraft with satellite observations to determine the influence of forest fire emissions on arctic atmosphere and climate.

The aircraft will fly through smoke plumes of boreal forests to examine the chemistry of the smoke plumes and how that chemistry changes over time and distance. These readings will be combined with data from NASA’s Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite, which can measure the height of various plume components in the atmosphere.

Read more about this mission here.

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