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The aircraft and scientists have left Fairbanks but the polar atmosphere research continues.

For the majority of April, more than 250 scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Energy joined in Fairbanks to gather research on air pollution in the Arctic.

Even with the influx of scientists coming from across the nation and Europe, researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute and International Arctic Research Center were able to interact with the scientists and work on the Arctic pollution problem as well. One of UAF’s researchers was Ken Sassen, a professor of atmospheric sciences, who looked at different aerosol sources such as Russian or Chinese agricultural fires and their effects on cloud formation.

Sassen said although the NASA researchers are finished gathering in Fairbanks, they still need to analyze the data, which can take from six months to a year. NASA is also planning to go to Cold Lake, Alberta, in the summer to collect more data, which will be complied with the Fairbanks data.

Glen Shaw, professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences, won a grant from NASA to study Arctic haze and became a project manager during the agency’s residency in Fairbanks. Although he worked closest with NASA, Shaw said all of the researchers used the GI and International Arctic Research Center facilities as headquarters and had large daily meetings.

“There was a feeling of good spirits and camaraderie,” Shaw said.

Shaw said he was able to conduct research related to the work being done by NASA on its research aircraft. Shaw is still collecting data from two experiments at the Poker Flats Research Range. One experiment is looking at cloud condensations and the different clouds they formed. The second project uses an aerosol mass spectrometer to look at individual chemical particles in Arctic haze. His work will continue until the Arctic haze dissipates closer to summer.

Shaw discovered Arctic haze in Barrow in 1972 and originally thought it was caused by dust from the Gobi Desert. Over the years as more research was being done, the theory evolved. It is now believed Arctic haze is mainly composed of pollution from Russia and Eastern European countries that burn dirty coal. The pollution then gets swept into a meteorological pattern that brings it to the Arctic.

Shaw said because of trends in science, the topic of Arctic haze faded into the background until the International Polar Year shifted the science community’s attention to the environment. By bringing a section of the science community to Fairbanks, he said the university definitely benefited.

“We made a lot of contacts,” he said. “It was a wonderfully fruitful experience.”