\n<\/p>\n
Landslides in Alaska. Air quality in\u00a0Atlanta.\u00a0Fire\u00a0clouds\u00a0out\u00a0West. From the Arctic fringes to\u00a0farm country, NASA\u2019s newest\u00a0class of\u00a0suborbital\u00a0Earth Venture\u00a0missions\u00a0is\u00a0gearing up\u00a0to\u00a0deliver science\u00a0that will benefit\u00a0communities in the\u00a0United States\u00a0and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The six projects\u00a0will\u00a0mobilize\u00a0hundreds of scientists\u00a0and pilots\u00a0from NASA,\u00a0the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0Navy,\u00a0universities, and other\u00a0institutions\u00a0over the next several years.\u00a0While the investigations range\u00a0across topics,\u00a0a\u00a0defining feature of\u00a0suborbital\u00a0missions is the\u00a0use of\u00a0sensors\u00a0mounted on\u00a0aircraft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Airborne\u00a0remote\u00a0sensing\u00a0serves\u00a0as a\u00a0bridge\u00a0between\u00a0ground-based instruments and satellites.\u00a0Data collected via\u00a0planes, helicopters, drones, and balloons\u00a0can\u00a0fill in gaps in\u00a0computer\u00a0models\u00a0used by weather forecasters,\u00a0city\u00a0planners, and others.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first project to take wing this summer is\u00a0Injected Smoke and PYRocumulonimbus Experiment\u00a0(INSPYRE<\/a>), led by the Naval Research Laboratory. From mission headquarters in Colorado, the team will chase one of the least understood forms of severe weather on Earth: towering \u201cfire clouds\u201d generated when extreme wildfires burn hot enough to brew their own thunderstorms.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Smoky and crackling with lightning, these unique storms can create blind spots for aviators above and spark new blazes below. Measuring and mapping the dangerous storms as they develop in real-time will help scientists forecast them in the future. Several aircraft, including NASA\u2019s high-altitude ER-2, flying out of Montana, will carry a large suite of instruments over wildfire-generated storm systems. Among them will be two state-of-the-art infrared wildfire trackers, which were developed at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory\u00a0(JPL)\u00a0in Southern California\u00a0and will be flying as part of the agency\u2019s\u00a0FireSense<\/a>\u00a0program.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Agricultural emissions represent an important and understudied\u202fpart\u00a0of Earth\u2019s land and atmosphere systems.\u202fThe\u202fFarmFlux<\/a>\u202fmission, which kicks off this\u00a0year, will\u202fdeploy more than a dozen sensors to\u202fmeasure ozone, methane, ammonia,\u202fparticulates, and other pollutants rising from agricultural lands and animal farms stretching from the Midwest to California\u2019s Central Valley. These emissions\u202faffect\u00a0human health, global climate, and\u202fstratospheric ozone.\u00a0The mission is led by NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center\u00a0in Greenbelt, Maryland,\u00a0along with\u00a0Colorado State University, and Boston University.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two North American\u00a0cities\u00a0with air quality concerns are Atlanta and Mexico City. But the causes differ, with weather and terrain playing a role. To explore these differences, the\u202fHemispheric Airborne Measurements of Air Quality\u00a0(HAMAQ<\/a>)\u202fmission will investigate areas of poor air in the two capitals and test how satellite information can help\u00a0forecasting and mitigation efforts. The team will\u00a0deploy\u00a0two aircraft at different altitudes:\u00a0NASA\u2019s\u00a0P-3B will fly close to the surface, directly measuring fine particle and gaseous pollutants, while the recently acquired\u00a0777 science jet<\/a>\u00a0will soar\u00a0high\u00a0above, mapping pollution with remote sensors.\u00a0 NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia,\u00a0is leading\u00a0the mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the\u00a0Arctic\u00a0warms\u00a0at least twice as fast as\u00a0the rest of\u00a0Earth, data\u00a0collected\u00a0today\u00a0can help guide\u00a0communities on the front lines of change.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0Snow4Flow<\/a>\u00a0campaign,\u00a0led by the University of Arizona, seeks to measure and model how far and fast glaciers are retreating in the far north. Traversing remote icescapes across Alaska, the Yukon, Arctic Canada, Greenland, and Svalbard,\u00a0Norway,\u00a0they\u2019ll sound both the near-surface and frozen depths of hundreds of glaciers\u00a0while flying over in a modernized WWII-era aircraft outfitted with a scanning laser altimeter and two custom radars.\u00a0Their\u00a0observations, combined with\u00a0satellite data and\u00a0advanced models of snowfall and glacier flow, will advance our understanding of how glaciers behave in different regions of the Arctic. The mission seeks to uncover\u00a0not just what these glaciers look like beneath the surface today, but\u00a0the\u00a0processes that will drive changes in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n As permafrost thaws, rivers on the doorstep of the Arctic become\u202fconveyor belts<\/a>\u202fof carbon and sediment. NASA Goddard,\u00a0and the City College of New York\u00a0lead\u00a0a\u202fmultidisciplinary\u202fteam studying how rivers, lagoons, and estuaries across Alaska\u2019s North Slope\u202finteract with the Arctic Ocean. The project, called\u00a0Frontlines of Rapidly Transforming Ecosystems\u00a0(FORTE<\/a>)\u202fwill combine optical and radar measurements from\u202fsatellites,\u202fplanes, high-tech\u202fresearch vessels, drones,\u202fand underwater autonomous systems to track microscopic marine life, water flow, and\u202fchemistry. The team will collaborate with local\u00a0and tribal\u00a0communities to sustain observations over time\u202fand apply NASA assets to address emerging local needs and decision-making priorities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n When\u00a0a slow-moving landslide\u00a0in California\u00a0suddenly collapsed\u00a0and buried\u00a0a section\u00a0of\u00a0coastal highway in\u00a02017,\u00a0scientists at NASA JPL wanted to know how precipitation swings played a\u00a0role. JPL\u00a0studies\u00a0how water\u00a0infiltrates and\u00a0destabilizes hillslopes\u00a0all over the world.\u00a0The\u00a0Landslide\u00a0Change Characterization\u00a0Experiment\u00a0(LACCE<\/a>)\u00a0project\u00a0will combine airborne synthetic aperture radar with land-based sensors to track how slopes in California are responding to a world of intensifying droughts and downpours. The project also takes aim at emerging landslide\u00a0hazards in Alaska, where rapidly retreating\u00a0glaciers are accelerating slope movements that have\u00a0the\u00a0potential to create mega-tsunamis.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s Earth Venture Suborbital program, designed to be nimble and high impact, was established following a recommendation by the National Research Council in 2007. In the decades since, teams have studied phenomena,\u00a0including blizzards, coral reefs, and ocean whirlpools.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n