Missions & Projects - Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Laboratory

Aerosol - Cloud - Ecosystems (ACE)

The objectives of the ACE mission are to study aerosol and cloud types and properties and measure ocean productivity in the surface ocean layers. Data from ACE will improve climate models and air-quality forecasts and will be used in the prediction of climate change.

Airborne Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL)

The Cloud Physics Lidar is an airborne lidar system designed specifically for studying clouds and aerosols using the ER-2 High Altitude Aircraft. Because the ER-2 typically flies at 65,000 feet (20 km), its instruments are above 94% of the earth's atmosphere, thereby allowing ER-2 instruments to function as spaceborne instrument simulators. The Cloud Physics Lidar provides a unique tool for atmospheric profiling and is sufficiently small and low cost to include in multiple instrument missions.

Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment (ATTREX)

A multi-year airborne science campaign to study the humidity and chemical composition of air entering the tropical tropopause layer of the atmosphere.

Atmospheric Lidar for Validation, Interagency Collaboration and Education (ALVICE)

ALVICE (Atmospheric Lidar for Validation, Interagency Collaboration and Education) is a ground based mobile lidar that is a roving transfer standard within the Network for the Detection for Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). The lidar measurements are water vapor mixing ratio, aerosol backscatter, extinction, depolarization, cloud liquid and ice water and rotational Raman temperature measurements. In addition to these lidar-based measurements additional equipment is carried in the trailer to provide balloon borne measurements (Vaisala RS-92 and Cryogenic Frostpoint hygrometer), surface reference measurements of pressure, temperature and RH as well as total column water using GPS.

BASE-ASIA: Biomass-burning Aerosols in South East-Asia: Smoke Impact Assessment (BASE-ASIA)

Biomass-burning Aerosols in South-East Asia: Smoke Impact Assessment

Canadian CloudSat/CALIPSO Validation Programme (C3VP)

The NASA GPM Project and the Precipitation Measurement Mission (PMM) Science Team participated in to the Canadian CloudSat/CALIPSO Validation Programme (C3VP) during winter 2006-2007. The campaign took place in the vicinity of the Centre for Atmospheric Research Experiments (CARE) operated by the Meteorological Service of Canada. This was a ground-validation field experiment for formulating robust approaches and methodologies to validate satellite-based snowfall algorithms prior to the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) launch.

CATZ: CALIPSO and Twilight Zone Ground-based Validation (CATZ)

Between June 26 th and August 29 th of 2007, nine field campaigns were carried out in Virginia and Maryland as part of the CALIPSO And Twilight Zone (CATZ) experiment. The field work was conducted on an alternating basis between the two daytime ground tracks closest to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center with four taking place in Virginia and five based on the eastern shore of Maryland.

Cloud Radar System (CRS)

The CRS is a 94 GHz (W-band; 3 mm wavelength) Doppler radar developed for autonomous operation in the NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft and for ground-based operation. It will provide high-resolution profiles of reflectivity and Doppler velocity in clouds and it has important applications to atmospheric remote sensing studies. The CRS was designed to fly with the Cloud Lidar System (CLS), in the tail cone of an ER-2 superpod. There are two basic modes of operation of the CRS: 1) ER-2 with reflectivity, Doppler, and linear-depolarization measurements, and 2) ground-based with full polarimetric capability.

Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO)

CALIPSO will provide the next generation of climate observations, drastically improving our ability to predict climate change and to study the air we breathe. The CALIPSO satellite was developed to help scientists answer significant questions and provide new information about the effects of clouds and aerosols (airborne particles) on changes in the Earth's climate. Understanding these components will provide the international science community with a more comprehensive data set that is essential for a better understanding of the Earth's climatic processes. Accurate climate model predictions will provide international and national leaders accurate information to make more informed policy decisions about global climate change.

Costa Rica-Aura Validation Experiment (CR-AVE)

The Costa Rica Aura Validation Experiment (CR-AVE) is a mission designed to explore the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) and to provide information for comparison to satellite observations. The tropical region between 30 N and 30 S comprises half of the Earth's surface, yet is relatively unsampled in comparison to the mid-latitude of the Northern Hemisphere. In addition, observations above typical aircraft altitudes (40,000 feet or 12 km) are even less frequent, making the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere one of the most sparsely sampled regions of our atmosphere.

Disdrometer and Radar Observations of Precipitation facility (DROP)

Home based at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), DROP provides ground-based measurements of hydrometeor properties including size, number concentration, shapes, fall speeds, and water contents for both liquid (e.g., rain) and frozen (e.g., snow) hydrometeors. DROP instrument assets include the following: 5 Two Dimensional Video Disdrometers (2DVDs), 24 Parsivel Disdrometers, >100 Tipping Bucket Raingauges, including a high density autonomous network being deployed on the Delmarva Peninsula, 3 Micro Rain Radars, 9 Pluvio weighing gauges, 7 Yankee Environmental Hot Plate sensors, and Snow Video Imagers. These assets are combined with WFF polarimetric radar assets (e.g, NPOL) measurements to provide detailed physical characteristics of precipitation in the atmospheric column.

Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R)

The D3R is a fully polarimetric, scanning weather radar system operating at the nominal frequencies of 13.91 GHz and 35.56 GHz covering a maximum range of 30 km.

EDOP: ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP)

The NASA ER-2 high-altitude (20 km) aircraft that emulates a satellite view of precipitation systems carries a variety of passive and active (lidar) remote sensing instruments. A new Doppler weather radar system at X band (9.6 GHz) called the ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP) has been developed and flown on the ER-2 aircraft.

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite - R (GOES-R)

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) program, a collaborative development and acquisition effort between NOAA and NASA, is a key element of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) operations. The GOES-R series of satellites will be comprised of improved spacecraft and instrument technologies, which will result in more timely and accurate weather forecasts, and improve support for the detection and observations of meteorological phenomena that directly affect public safety, protection of property, and ultimately, economic health and development. The first launch of the GOES-R series satellite is scheduled for FY2015.

-/+ Key Staff

- Project Scientist: Dennis F Chesters

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)

GOES is a series of satellites that provide a constant vigil for the atmospheric "triggers" for severe weather conditions such as tornadoes and hurricanes. GOES-P, the third spacecraft in the GOES-NOP Series of satellites, launched March 4, 2012 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)

The GPM mission is one of the next generation of satellite-based Earth science missions that will study global precipitation (rain, snow, ice). GPM Constellation is a joint mission with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and other international partners. Building upon the success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), it will initiate the measurement of global precipitation, a key climate factor. Its science objectives are: to improve ongoing efforts to predict climate by providing near-global measurement of precipitation, its distribution, and physical processes; to improve the accuracy of weather and precipitation forecasts through more accurate measurement of rain rates and latent heating; and to provide more frequent and complete sampling of the Earth's precipitation.

-/+ Key Staff

- Project Scientist: Arthur Yuhan Hou
- Deputy Project Scientist: Erich F Stocker
- Deputy Project Scientist: Gail Skofronick Jackson

Glory

The Glory mission was intended to improve our understanding of Earth's energy balance and the role of aerosols in climate. The spacecraft was launched March 4, 2011, but did not achieve orbit due to the failure of the payload faring to open.

-/+ Key Staff

- Project Scientist: Michael I. Mishchenko
- Deputy Project Scientist: Ellsworth J Welton

Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE)

The Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model, a cloud resolving model (CRM), has been developed and improved at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center over the past two decades. The development and main features of the GCE model were published in Tao and Simpson (1993) and Tao et al. (2003b). A review of the applications of the GCE model to develop a better understanding of precipitation processes can be found in Simpson and Tao (1993) and Tao (2003). The 3D version of the GCE model is typically run using 256 x 256 up to 1024 x 1024 horizontal grid points at 1-2 km resolution or better. An MPI version of the GCE model was recently developed (Juang et al. 2006). It is well documented and easy to modify and improve. It is also flexible enough to run on many different platforms using any number of CPUs.

Goddard Lidar Observatory for Wind (GLOW)

It is a mobile Doppler lidar system based on double edge direct detection technology. It consists of a molecular system at 355nm and a aerosol system at 1064nm.

GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx)

The GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx), conducted in cooperation with Environment Canada in Ontario, Canada, s to characterize the ability of multi-frequency active and passive microwave sensors to detect and estimate falling snow through the collection of microphysical property data, associated remote sensing observations, and coordinated model simulations of falling snow. Through collection of these unique datasets, GCPEx will seek to improve the GPM snowfall retrieval algorithms.

High Altitude Wind and Rain Profiling Radar (HIWRAP)

The High Altitude Wind and Rain Profiling Radar (HIWRAP) is a dual-frequency (Ka- and Ku-band), dual-beam (30 and 40 degree incidence angle), conical scan, solid-state transmitter-based system, designed for operation on the high-altitude (20 km) Global Hawk UAV.

Holographic Airborne Rotating Lidar Instrument Experiment (HARLIE)

The HARLIE transceiver is based on a volume phase holographic optical elements (HOE) made in dichromated gelatin (DCG) sandwiched between 2 layers of high quality float glass. It demonstrates the practical application of this technology to a compact scanning lidar system at 1064 nm wavelength. The HOE has the ability to withstand moderately high laser power and energy loading and is of sufficient optical quality for most direct detection systems,and overall efficiency rivaling conventional receivers. It's size and weight are approximately half of similar performing scanning systems using reflective optics.

Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3)

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) is a five-year mission specifically targeted to investigate the processes that underlie hurricane formation and intensity change in the Atlantic Ocean basin.

-/+ Key Staff

- Principal Investigator: Scott A Braun
- Deputy Principal Investigator: Paul A. Newman

ICESat: Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Mission (ICESat)

The ICESat mission was launched in January 2003 with a goal of returning science data for five years. It was the first mission specifically designed to study Earth's polar regions with a space-based laser altimeter. The mission led to advances in measuring changes in the mass of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, polar sea ice thickness, vegetation-canopy heights, and the heights of clouds and aerosol particles. The ICESat mission ended in February 2010 with the failure of the last of its three lasers. After a controlled maneuver to bring the craft out of orbit, ICESat entered Earth's atmosphere over the Barents Sea on August 30, 2010. A follow-on mission, ICESat-2, is slated for launch in 2015.

International Chemistry Experiment in the Arctic LOwer Troposphere (ICEALOT)

A Springtime Study of Aerosol Properties and Atmospheric Chemistry over an Ice-Free Region of the Arctic

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Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Laboratory, Code 612

All Missions & Projects - Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes ( 612 )

For further mission information, data, research, and other resources, see Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Research.

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Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment (ATTREX)

Atmospheric Lidar for Validation, Interagency Collaboration and Education (ALVICE)

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