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Laboratory News

Delay of TROPICS Launch Due to Unfavorable Winds

05.24.2023
NASA and Rocket Lab are now targeting no earlier than 11:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, May 25, (3:30 p.m. NZST Friday, May 26th) for the launch of the agency’s TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) mission, from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand.

It’s Launch Day Again for NASA’s TROPICS CubeSats

05.24.2023
Launch day is here for NASA’s TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) mission! Atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket, a pair of small satellites await liftoff from Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand, to join a pair of recently deployed TROPICS satellites that launched just over two weeks ago.

Earth Expeditions: In Dust and Clouds Over Africa, Scientists Find Clues to How Hurricanes Form

05.24.2023
When the dust that wafts off the Sahel and Sahara regions of Africa mixes with tropical clouds, it creates what’s known as a rainy “disturbance” in the eastern Atlantic. These disturbances are hurricanes in their youngest form, and as they travel across the ocean, they can either dissipate or grow into powerful storms.

To study these infant storms, a group of NASA scientists in September 2022 spent a month flying off the northwestern coast of Africa aboard NASA’s DC-8 research plane. Each day, the team took off from Cabo Verde, an island nation off the west coast of Africa, logging roughly 100 hours altogether. The mission, known as the Convective Processes Experiment – Cabo Verde (CPEX-CV) released its data publicly on April 1.
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Overview

The mission of the Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Laboratory is to conduct research to understand the physics and dynamics of atmospheric processes through the use of satellite, aircraft and surface-based remote sensing observations and computer-based simulations. Key areas of investigation are cloud and precipitation systems and their environments from the scale of individual clouds and thunderstorms through mesoscale convective systems and cyclonic storms, and up to the scale of the impact of these systems on regional and global climate. The processes associated with the interaction of the atmosphere with the underlying land and ocean surfaces are also of high priority. Development of advanced remote-sensing instrumentation (including lidar, passive microwave and radar) and techniques to measure meteorological parameters in the troposphere is an important focus.
The Laboratory plays key science leadership roles in the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, launched in 2014, and the Earth System Observatory–Atmospheric Observing System (ESO–AOS) mission, which is being developed for launch in the late 2020s to address high-priority research topics tied to aerosols, clouds, and precipitation identified in the 2017 NASA Earth Science Decadal Survey.

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


Contact Us

George Huffman
301.614.6308
george.j.huffman@nasa.gov

General inquiries about the scientific programs at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center may be directed to the Center Office of Communications at 1.301.286.8955.

                                                                                                                                                                                        
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