Science News & Science Current Events
 
Email a Friend Send to a friend
Printer Friendly Print Field Project Seeks Clues to Climate Change in Remote Atmospheric Region

Field Project Seeks Clues to Climate Change in Remote Atmospheric Region

June 13, 2008

Scientists are deploying an advanced research aircraft to study a region of the atmosphere that influences climate change by affecting the amount of solar heat that reaches Earth's surface.

Findings from the project, based at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., will be used by researchers worldwide to improve computer models of global climate in preparation for the next report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).




The project, which continues through this month, is known as START 08 (Stratosphere-Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport). It focuses on a remote part of the atmosphere called the tropopause, which ranges in altitude from approximately 32,000 to 56,000 feet.

Scientists are increasingly interested in the tropopause because of both its importance in the global climate system and the buildup of greenhouse gases has altered this atmospheric region in ways that are not yet understood.

"This region of the atmosphere is the weak link in climate research," explains NCAR scientist Laura Pan, a principal investigator on the project. "In order to understand climate change, you need to have accurate computer models of the planet. In order to have accurate models, you need to understand what's going on in the tropopause."

START is a collaborative effort involving the University of Miami, Texas A&M University, the University of Colorado, Harvard University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Funding for the project comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF), NCAR's primary sponsor, and from NOAA.

START deploys the NSF/NCAR Gulfstream-V, also known as HIAPER, the High-Performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research, a cutting-edge aircraft that will fly about a dozen missions above much of North America at altitudes ranging up to about 47,000 feet.

"No other research aircraft could obtain samples of this critically important region of the atmosphere as effectively," said Cliff Jacobs, program director in NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences. "START is the first major study to use that capability."

The flight paths will take the aircraft through the top of the troposphere, which is the lowest layer of the atmosphere, and into the stratosphere.

Focusing on the tropopause, the boundary between these two layers, scientists will take samples of air to determine the movements and concentrations of a number of gases. One of their goals is to learn more about water vapor and ozone, which act as potent greenhouse gases by trapping solar radiation in the atmosphere, thereby warming the planet.

"Understanding the tropopause region is particularly challenging because it involves interactions of winds and atmospheric motion with chemistry, clouds, and solar radiation," says Kenneth Bowman, a principal investigator on the project and an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University.

"Properly representing this part of the atmosphere in global climate models requires getting all of these complex components correct. The aircraft allows us to directly observe many of these processes in place, providing a level of detail that cannot be matched by ground-based or satellite observations."

The tropopause is challenging territory for scientists: it is too high to observe with most ground-based instruments or aircraft, and too low for satellites to view with great detail. Also, its altitude has changed in recent years because of global warming.

As Earth's tropical regions have grown, the highest part of the tropopause, which lies above the tropics, has expanded. This movement is related to the jet stream, which has also shifted toward higher latitudes.

These changes are setting off a chain reaction that affects both weather patterns and long-term global climate. The research team wants to determine how weather patterns stir up chemicals in the tropopause and, in turn, how its changing chemical composition influences global climate, including the location of the jet stream.

"We want to collect data that will help map out the chemical composition of this dynamic boundary region," says Elliot Atlas, also a principal investigator on the project, and a marine and atmospheric chemist at the University of Miami. "This is a complex area, where naturally occurring gases and particles mix with pollutants from human activities in ways that can ultimately affect the weather and climate of our planet."

Over the next two years, climate scientists will use observations from START and other sources to adjust computer models that simulate Earth's climate. These models will be used for the next round of IPCC reports, which are likely to be issued about 2012.

The National Science Foundation (NSF)



Related Climate Change Current Events and Climate Change News Articles Climate Change Current Events and Climate Change News RSS Climate Change Current Events and Climate Change News RSS
Brainy genes, not brawn, key to success on mussel beach
It's hard being a mussel: you have to worry about hungry starfish and even hungrier humans, not to mention an environment that can change your body temperature 50 degrees Fahrenheit in just a few hours.

Warming in Yosemite National Park sends small mammals packing to higher, cooler elevations
Global warming is causing major shifts in the range of small mammals in Yosemite National Park, one of the nation's treasures that was set aside as a public trust 144 years ago, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, biologists.

Smithsonian perspective: Biodiversity in a warmer world
Will climate change exceed life's ability to respond? Biodiversity in a Warmer World, published in the Oct. 10, 2008 issue of the journal, Science, illustrates that cross-disciplinary research fostered by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama clearly informs this urgent debate.

Diversity of plant-eating fishes may be key to recovery of coral reefs
For endangered coral reefs, not all plant-eating fish are created equal. A report scheduled to be published this week in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that maintaining the proper balance of herbivorous fishes may be critical to restoring coral reefs, which are declining dramatically worldwide.

Future Risk of Hurricanes: The Role of Climate Change
Researchers are homing in on the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea to assess the likely changes, between now and the middle of the century, in the frequency, intensity, and tracks of these powerful storms. Initial results are expected early next year.

Waterborne disease risk upped in Great Lakes
An anticipated increased incidence of climate-related extreme rainfall events in the Great Lakes region may raise the public health risk for the 40 million people who depend on the lakes for their drinking water, according to a new study.

RAND study: Alternative fossil fuels have economic potential
Alternative sources of fossil fuels such as oil sands and coal-to-liquids have significant economic promise, but the environmental consequences must also be considered, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

NASA study finds rising Arctic storm activity sways sea ice, climate
A new NASA study shows that the rising frequency and intensity of arctic storms over the last half century, attributed to progressively warmer waters, directly provoked acceleration of the rate of arctic sea ice drift, long considered by scientists as a bellwether of climate change.

Extinction by asteroid a rarity
In geology as in cancer research, the silver bullet theory always gets the headlines and nearly always turns out to be wrong.

'Deadly dozen' reports diseases worsened by climate change
Health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society today released a report that lists 12 pathogens that could spread into new regions as a result of climate change, with potential impacts to both human and wildlife health and global economies.
More Climate Change Current Events and Climate Change News Articles


The Rough Guide to Climate Change, 2nd Edition
by Robert Henson

The Rough Guide to Climate Change gives the complete picture of the single biggest issue facing the planet. Cutting a swathe through scientific research and political debate, this completely updated 2nd edition lays out the facts and assesses the options- global and personal- for dealing with the threat of a warming world. The guide looks at the evolution of our atmosphere over the last 4.5...



Financing Education in a Climate of Change (10th Edition)
by Vern Brimley, Rulon R. Garfield



Climate Change 2007 - The Physical Science Basis: Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC (Climate Change 2007)
by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Climate Change 2007 volumes of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provide the most comprehensive and balanced assessment of climate change available. This IPCC Working Group I report brings us completely up-to-date on the full range of scientific aspects of climate change. Written by the world's leading experts, the IPCC volumes will again...



What We Know About Climate Change (Boston Review Books)
by Kerry Emanuel

The vast majority of scientists agree that human activity has significantly increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere—most dramatically since the 1970s. In February 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that global warming is "unequivocal" and that human-produced carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are chiefly to blame, to a certainty of more than 90 percent. Yet...



Climate Change: What's Your Business Strategy? (Memo to the CEO)
by Andrew J. Hoffman, John G. Woody

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing the world today. And increasingly, it's become a crucial business issue. How will you and your company respond?In Climate Change: What's Your Business Strategy? Andrew Hoffman and John Woody provide concise and reliable advice to help you answer this question. Drawing from their extensive experience working with organizations to address...



The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge (Atlas Of... (University of California Press))
by Kirstin Dow, Thomas Downing

Today's headlines and recent events reflect the gravity of climate change. Heat waves, droughts, and floods are bringing death to vulnerable populations, destroying livelihoods, and driving people from their homes. Rigorous in its science and insightful in its message, this atlas examines the causes of climate change and considers its possible impact on subsistence, water resources, ecosystems,...



Global Climate Change and U.S. Law

This comprehensive, current examination of U.S. law as it relates to global climate change begins with a summary of the factual and scientific background of climate change based on governmental statistics and other official sources. Subsequent chapters address the international and national frameworks of climate change law, including the Kyoto Protocol, state programs affected in the absence of a...



The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change: A Guide to the Debate
by Andrew E. Dessler, Edward A. Parson

Climate variability has become the primary environmental concern of the 21st Century. Yet, despite the scientific community's warnings of the imminent dangers of global warming, politicians world-wide have failed to agree on what to do about this potentially devastating environmental problem. This introductory primer informs scientists, policy makers and the general public by clarifying the...



Climate Change 2007 - Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Working Group II contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC (Climate Change 2007)
by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Climate Change 2007 volumes of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provide the most comprehensive and balanced assessment of climate change available. This IPCC Working Group II volume brings us completely up-to-date on the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change. Written by the world's leading experts, the IPCC...



Climate Change: What It Means for Us, Our Children, and Our Grandchildren (American and Comparative Environmental Policy)

Most of us are familiar with the terms climate change and global warming, but not too many of us understand the science behind them. We don't really understand how climate change will affect us, and for that reason we might not consider it as pressing a concern as, say, housing prices or the quality of local education. This book explains the scientific knowledge about global climate change...

© 2008 BrightSurf.com