What is the chemical composition of the most remote background atmosphere?
ONGOING RESEARCH
The NASA funded Atmospheric Tomography project is a multiyear program to measure the chemical composition of the atmosphere of the most remote regions of the world. The flights include sampling from the surface to the tropopause, from the (almost) north pole to the (almost) south pole through the Pacific and Atlantic. As part of ATom, we (the Harvard QCLS group) have been measuring carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide.
We follow similar flight tracks each time (unless re-routing for weather or runway issues). We travel anti-clockwise in order to make use of the tailwinds on the long flight from New Zealand to Chile.
ATom4 - May 2018.
ATom2 Blog Posts, Videos, Media
Published Data from ATom
ATom: Merged Atmospheric Chemistry, Trace Gases, and Aerosols (DOI: 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1581);
MEDIA COVERAGE of ATom
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nasa-earth/nomadic-scientists-from-desert-to-arctic-and-beyond/10154472236067139/
02/2017: NPR Radio (Morning Edition)
02/2017: WCAI (NPR Radio on Cape Cod and Islands)
02/2017: NASA produced video updates for ATom-2
08/2016: NASA produced video updates for ATom-1 on NASA Goddard YouTube Channel. Complete list of videos listed here
ATom1 Blog Posts: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/category/atom-2016/
08/02/2016: Departing for Cooler Climates
08/19/2016: Going back in Time
08/26/2016: Is there any such thing as remote clean air?
08/29/2016: Challenging Back Half
08/30/2016: Lessons learned
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