NASA's Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling (TC4) field campaign will begin this summer in San Jose, Costa Rica, investigating how chemical compounds in the air are transported vertically into the stratosphere and how that transport affects cloud formation and climate.

The study will begin mid-July, with coordinated observations from satellites, high-flying NASA research aircraft, balloons and ground-based radar. The instruments will collect data of the gases, aerosols and ice crystals that flow from the top of the powerful storm systems that form over the warm tropical ocean. These storm systems pump air more than 12,000 meters above Earth’s surface, where it can influence the composition of the stratosphere, where our planet’s protective ozone layer lies.

The outflow of these storms also gives rise to extensive patterns of icy cirrus clouds that play an important role in how much infrared energy is trapped in Earth's atmosphere. Scientists want to document the full lifecycle of these widespread clouds and study their tiny ice crystals to better understand the effects of a warming climate.

"This campaign is an unprecedented opportunity to use NASA's complete suite of satellite and airborne Earth-observing capabilities to investigate a largely unexplored region of the atmosphere," said Michael J. Kurylo, a TC4 program scientist at NASA Headquarters, Washington.

"This tropical transitional layer of the atmosphere between the troposphere and the stratosphere plays a key role in both climate change science and atmospheric ozone chemistry. The data will yield new insights into the composition of this layer and the impact of the deep clouds that penetrate the atmosphere up into this layer."

"A mission this complex, with three aircraft, deployment sites in Costa Rica and Panama, and more than 400 people involved, can be a real challenge," said Mission Project Manager Marilyn Vasques of NASA Ames Research Center.

The research continues through 8 August 2007. This is NASA's largest Earth science field campaign of 2007.

Further Reading

TC4

http://www.espo.nasa.gov/tc4/

NASA Release on TC4

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/jun/HQ_07144_TC4_Mission.html

Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem

Senior Astronomy Specialist