Scientists take to the skies to measure Arctic air pollution
Published Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The skies above Fairbanks are going to be a bit more crowded during the month of April. Five planes, four based in Fairbanks and one in Barrow, will be used to research the impact of air pollution on the arctic atmosphere.
About 250 researchers with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Energy will be in town through April 20.
The teams will study different but related components of air pollution, said Glenn Shaw, professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a project manager with NASA’s Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites.
The NASA program will use three aircraft — a DC-8, P-3B and B-200 — and satellites to take samples of pollution particles and gases to study arctic haze. Arctic haze is caused by pollution and found in the atmosphere at high altitudes in the Arctic.
Jim Crawford, the program manager, said the research is based out of Fairbanks because the location had the infrastructure to support all of the research. Shaw said UAF is a good research university with good air facilities for air experiments, especially with arctic climates.
Crawford said the DC-8, which has a payload that can carry 30,000 pounds, has been flying local missions and longer missions to Greenland.
The DC-8 uses 145,000 pounds of fuel on each flight and the P-3B uses 35,000 pounds. Each plane will make eight local flights during the program’s residency in Fairbanks.
NOAA’s program — Aerosol, Radiation, and Cloud Processes affecting Arctic Climate Change — is studying Arctic pollution to find out why the region is warming faster than predicted. NOAA’s aircraft, a WP-3D, has almost 30 airborne sensors to collect data in the atmosphere.
“These planes are crammed to the gills,” Crawford said of all the research aircrafts.
The Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program has a Canadian Convair 580 flying between Fairbanks and the program’s permanent base in Barrow. The program’s primary function is to improve the treatment of clouds and radiation feedback in order to promote better climate models.
Lynne Roeder, the public information officer for the program, said field campaigns such as work being done in Fairbanks are necessary to the program.
“Field campaigns support and enhance the data collected at the permanent base,” she said.
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This is great so let me see if I understand the scenerio with the three aircraft two of which you gave information on(I figure the P-B3 and B-200 as using the same fuel). You are going to put an additional 1,720,000 lbs of fuel into the atmosphere over Fairbanks and now tell me how are you going to separate that from the other pollutants or will it just be added in?
Since we are coming off of some of the largest summer wild fires seasons in history. Can the data be separated to show what the particals are and if you are running in the higher atmosphere where the pollutants are coming from?
By the way that is 252,941 gallons of fuel or one can heat their homes for well a very very very long time.
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