In the Field      Newsroom | Upcoming Field Experiments

This page brings together news releases and background material about past field experiments and provides updates on some of the findings emerging from them. For field projects about to get under way, see Upcoming Field Experiments.

The atmosphere and other components of the Earth system know no boundaries. Field projects reflect that global nature, as well as the complexity of the scientific puzzles to be solved.

Major field campaigns may deploy dozens to hundreds of researchers from a wide spectrum of academic disciplines. These experiements draw on the resources and personnel of many national and international institutions, deploying a host of sensors to bring back large quantities of data.

Some results emerge quickly, while others take years of analysis to uncover.

Search for a project or key word(s) using your computer's built-in "find" function, or browse by topic.

Browse by Topic                                                

Air pollution (including carbon dioxide):
ACE-Asia | ACME | INDOEX | MIRAGE | MOPITT | PACDEX

North American Monsoon:
NAME

Ozone production and loss (including ozone holes):
HIRDLS | SOLVE (SAGE III) | TOPSE

Remote sensing from space:
COSMIC | HIRDLS | MOPITT | Sunrise Solar Telescope

Storms, clouds, and rain:
BAMEX | IHOP2002 | RAINEX | REFRACTT | RICO | STEPS

Turbulence:
T-REX

Weather, climate, space weather observations:
COSMIC | Sunrise Solar Telescope

Air pollution

ACE-Asia (begun March 2001)

The fourth in a series of Aerosol Characterization Experiments, ACE-Asia was designed to improve understanding of the effects on Earth's climate of atmospheric aerosol particles. Some 130 scientists from nine countries gathered in and near the western Pacific Ocean, deploying ships, satellites, aircraft, and ground-based instruments to probe massive dust plumes from the Asian desert as they collided with heavy industrial pollution. Early results show differences between aerosols from North America and those found in Asia; the analysis is improving the ability of computer models to represent the location and effect of Asian aerosols on Earth's temperature.

Updates

Aerosol Characterization of Asian Dust Storms and Pollution Plumes—USGCRP 2002 Accomplishments (October 12, 2003)

Asian Pollution Cloud Changing Climate, Study Says—National Geographic News (February 10, 2003)

Field campaign

Scientists, Ships, Aircraft to Profile Asian Pollution and Dust (March 20, 2001)

ACE-Asia home page

ACME (begun April 2004)

Accurate assessments of carbon uptake over complex terrain could help show to what extent carbon dioxide storage in Western mountain forests—a potentially important "sink" for the greenhouse gas—may be slowing down as the ongoing drought affects tree growth. For the field phase of the Airborne Carbon in the Mountains Experiment, scientists flew the NSF/NCAR C-130 research aircraft over Colorado's Front Range to measure how much carbon dioxide mountain forests remove from the air as spring turns into summer.

Updates

ACME research presentations (March 2005)

Sharing Our World's Air—UCAR Highlights 2005

Field campaign

ACME campaign photos

NCAR Aircraft, Ground Instruments to Track Carbon Dioxide Uptake along Colorado's Drought-Plagued Front Range (April 26, 2004)

ACME home page

INDOEX (begun March 1999)

During the Indian Ocean Experiment, an international team of over 200 scientists tracked and sampled polluting aerosols at the intersection over the tropical Indian Ocean of air masses from the relatively uninhabited southern Indian Ocean and Antarctica and from the heavily populated Indian subcontinent. Goals included understanding how the cooling of aerosols counteracts warming due to greenhouse gases. INDOEX revealed that local pollution travels farther and persists longer than had previously been suspected. This South Asian haze, also called the Atmospheric Brown Cloud or the Asian Brown Cloud, which lingers during the dry season from December to April, made international headlines in the summer of 2002.

Updates

Pollution Cloud Over South Asia Threatens Economies—National Geographic News (August 12, 2002)

Tiny Particles Of Pollution May Carry Large Consequences For Earth's Water Supply—ScienceDaily.com (December 10, 2001)

NCAR Model Yields Best Global Picture to Date of Climate-Modifying Aerosols (April 13, 2001)

INDOEX finds surprisingly dirty air (Summer 1999)

Field campaign

NCAR Scientists, Aircraft, Instruments Head to Indian Ocean for Climate Change Experiment; UCAR Directs Operations (March 4, 1999)

INDOEX home page

MIRAGE (begun March 2006)

In one of the most complex field campaigns ever undertaken in atmospheric chemistry, an international team made multiple research flights in the NSF/NCAR C-130 and other aircraft and operated ground instruments to investigate the chemical and physical transformation of air pollution as it flows downwind from Mexico City. The goal is to assess the pollution's impact on regional and global air quality, climate, and ecosystems. The results are expected to be applicable to megacities (cities with 10 million or more inhabitants) in other locations around the world.

Updates

Notes from the field: Turbulence and pollution (May 2006)

Field campaign

NCAR Annual Report—Megacity Impacts on Regional and Global Environments (MIRAGE) (2006)

Researchers to Scrutinize Megacity Pollution During Mexico City Field Campaign (March 2, 2006)

Field Research Report: The MIRAGE Project (Spring 2006)

Researchers to study air pollution near Mexico City (June 2005)

MIRAGE home page

MOPITT (launched aboard NASA's Terra satellite December 18, 1999)

A space-based instrument dedicated to Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere has been orbiting Earth since late 1999. MOPITT makes global observations of carbon monoxide, a pollutant in its own right and a tracer for tracking other harmful ingredients in the lower atmosphere. The instrument has opened a window on the chemical complexity and dynamic variability of the lower atmosphere, where weather evolves and humans routinely disturb the environment.

Updates

Sharing Our World's Air—UCAR Highlights 2005

NCAR Analysis Shows Widespread Pollution from 2004 Wildfires (June 29, 2005)

New Images from Space Spotlight Asian, Australian Pollution (February 4, 2003)

Global Pollution Hot Spots Identified (December 6, 2002)

Scientists Monitor Global Air Pollution from Space (May 30, 2001)

MOPITT image gallery (NASA Visible Earth)

Launch

New Satellite-Borne Instrument to Measure Carbon Monoxide Pollution in the Lower Atmosphere (December 19, 1999)

PACDEX (begun April 2007)

The Pacific Dust Experiment studied the massive plumes of dust and pollutants that are blown from Asia to North America and how these plumes may affect

• the formation of clouds and the development of precipitation
• the intensity of storms moving across the Pacific
• the amount of sunlight that reaches Earth
• the extent to which greenhouse gases will warm the Pacific basin as well as the entire globe in the next few decades

Field campaign

Scientists to Track Impact of Asian Dust and Pollution on Clouds, Weather, Climate Change (April 18, 2007)

Scientists Chat with Journalists - ArchivePACDEX (May 15, 2007)

PACDEX Multimedia Gallery

PACDEX Fact Sheet

PACDEX Home Page

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North American Monsoon

NAME (begun July 2004)

To launch the North American Monsoon Experiment, U.S. and Mexican researchers probed moisture-laden skies from Mazatlán to Tucson during the largest study yet of this important weather phenomenon. Each year the midsummer arrival of quenching rains plays a vital role in dryland farming, ranching, and wildfire control across the southwest United States and northwest Mexico. The monsoon may also hold useful clues for predicting summer rainfall elsewhere in the United States.

Updates

NAME 2004 Data Analysis and Science Working Group Meeting (March 9-11, 2005)

Field campaign

Monsoons, North American Style: NCAR Helps Probe the Southwest's Summer Rains (July 29, 2004)

NAME home page

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Ozone production and loss in the stratosphere (including ozone holes)

HIRDLS (launched aboard NASA's Aura satellite on July 15, 2004)

The High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder is a space-based instrument that provides a detailed picture of chemistry from the upper troposphere to well above the stratosphere. By measuring atmospheric chemicals and temperatures in unprecedented detail, HIRDLS advances scientific insights on critical issues such as ozone loss and the impact of greenhouse gases on climate.

Updates

HIRDLS comes through (November 2005)

Launch

New Space-borne Instrument to Track Greenhouse Gases, Ozone Destroyers, and Other Pollutants (July 7, 2004)

HIRDLS home page

SOLVE (SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment) (begun January 2000)

SOLVE is an international project to measure levels of ozone and learn more about its life cycle in the upper atmosphere of the Arctic. During the first SOLVE mission, winter measurements were made using aircraft, balloon platforms, and ground-based instruments. The project also gathered data to validate the SAGE III instrument being built to gather ozone data from space.

Updates

Atmospheric Composition: USGCRP Fiscal Year 2002 Accomplishments—US Global Change Research Program (September 3, 2004)

Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 107, No. D20, 2002, Special Section: Ozone loss from quasi-conservative coordinate mapping during the 1999-2000 SOLVE/THESEO 2000 campaigns

Field campaign

NCAR Scientists Seek Ozone-Hole Clues During Largest Campaign Ever in Arctic Stratosphere (January 14, 2000)

SOLVE II home page

SOLVE I home page

TOPSE (begun April 2000)

During the field expedition for Tropospheric Ozone Production about the Spring Equinox (TOPSE), scientists measured an array of chemicals in pursuit of clues to ozone production and loss, atmospheric cleansing, and pollution transport in the northern latitudes. Some of their findings, including a disappearance of ozone from the Arctic surface, appear in the February 28, 2003, issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research—Atmospheres.

Updates

Is North America's Ozone Homegrown or Imported? New NCAR Analysis Sheds Light on the Northern Hemisphere's Springtime Ozone Peak (March 20, 2003)

Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 108, No. D4, 2003, Special Section: Tropospheric Ozone Production About the Spring Equinox (TOPSE)

TOPSE studies springtime in the Rockies—and all the way to the Arctic
UCAR Quarterly (Summer 2000)

Research Aircraft Finds Springtime Ozone Voids above Arctic Surface (February 7, 2001)

Field campaign

NCAR Scientists Fly into Arctic Circle Lured by Spring Ozone Highs (April 24, 2000)

TOPSE home page

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Storms, clouds, and rain

BAMEX (begun May 2003)

The Bow Echo and MCV Experiment examined some of the world's largest thunderstorm complexes for clues to how these storms wreak havoc and how forecasters can better predict their trails of damage. MCVs are mesoscale convective vortices, low-pressure centers associated with large clusters of storms.

Updates

22nd Conference on Severe Local Storms, Results from the BOW Echo and MCV Experiment (BAMEX) I (October 5, 2004)

22nd Conference on Severe Local Storms, Results from the BOW Echo and MCV Experiment (BAMEX) II (October 5, 2004)

Midwest Thunderstorm Study Points toward Better Forecasts (September 27, 2004)

Second BAMEX Workshop (April 11-12, 2004)

BAMEX Workshop Presentations (March 1-3, 2004)

Field campaign

In the midnight hour: BAMEX takes aim at dangerous night storms (May 2003)

Chasing mesoscale monsters: BAMEX goes after bow echoes and thunderstorm vortices—UCAR Quarterly (Spring 2003)

BAMEX Visuals: Slide Show (May 6, 2003)

Scientists to Probe Giant Storm Clusters across Midwest (May 5, 2003)

BAMEX Media Advisory: Midwest Severe Weather Study Begins with Media Day on May 19 (May 12, 2003)

BAMEX home page

IHOP2002 (begun May 2002)

Over 100 researchers profiled the water vapor that feeds heavy rain and thunderstorms across Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas as part of the large, complex International H20 Project (IHOP2002).

Updates

The Case of the Missing Clouds: NCAR Observing System Finds High-Level Moisture with Global Implications (February 11, 2003)

A deluge we can't see: Water vapor's hide-and-seek journey through clear air and storminess—UCAR Highlights 2002

Weather, Climate, and the Evolving U.S. Climate Change Science Program—UCAR Quarterly (Summer 2002)

Field campaign

In Midst of Drought, Scientists Hunt for Water Vapor (May 7, 2002)

Where's the water vapor? IHOP2002 is on a mission to find out—UCAR Quarterly (Spring 2002)

Massive Weather Study Heads for the Skies and Roads of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas (April 15, 2002)

IHOP2002 Media Advisory: Media Day for Major U.S. Weather Study (May 7, 2002)

IHOP home page

RAINEX (begun August 2005)

The Hurricane Rainband and Intensity Change Experiment focused on how the outer rainbands and inner eye of a hurricane interact to influence a storm's intensity. Researchers obtained unprecedented data while flying aircraft through hurricanes Rita, Katrina, and Ophelia. Their goal was to better understand dramatic, rapid changes in tropical storm intensity that have baffled forecasters for years.

Updates

27th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, Special Session: RAINEX I (April 26, 2006)

27th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, Special Session: RAINEX II (April 27, 2006)

Busy times in the tropics: Hurricanes keep coastal residents—and NCAR—hopping—UCAR Quarterly (Fall 2005)

Field campaign

NCAR Radar Probes Hurricane Rainbands (August 8, 2005)

RAINEX: Bad weather is good news (November 2005)

RAINEX home page

REFRACTT (begun June 2006)

The Refractivity Experiment For H2O Research And Collaborative operational Technology Transfer deployed, for the first time, multiple Doppler weather radars to track water vapor in the lower atmosphere. Researchers measured changes in the speed of radar signals caused by refraction, which in turn reveal the presence or absence of atmospheric moisture. Measuring the low-level moisture is expected to help forecasters pin down the locations and timing of storms that might rage a few minutes to a few hours later.

Updates

Short-term Weather Forecasting: The Colorado REFRACTT Demonstration (NCAR Annual Report 2006/2007)

A new eye on storm formation: REFRACTT tests out radar technique on the Front Range (July-August 2006)

Field campaign

New Radar Technique Locates Storm-Fueling Moisture (April 1, 2006)

REFRACTT Home Page

RICO (begun November 2004)

The Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean experiment brought over 100 scientists and technicians to the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda to study trade wind cumulus clouds. With specially equipped ground radars and aircraft, research teams gathered data on the processes that turn cloud droplets into warm rain without going through an ice phase.

Updates

12th Conference on Cloud Physics, Session 9: RICO (July 13, 2006)

12th Conference on Cloud Physics, Session 10: RICO II (July 13, 2006)

RICO field project: Cool heads prevail during a complicated study of warm rain (March 2005)

Field campaign

Up close with Caribbean cumulus (February 1, 2005)

RICO home page

STEPS (begun May 2000)

Scientists scanned the skies for lightning and "dry" supercell storms from a host of high-tech platforms in the High Plains near Goodland, Kansas, using storm-chasing vehicles, radars, and an armored research aircraft. The Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study (STEPS-2000) was the largest effort to date to study lightning and low-precipitation storms.

Updates

STEPS research presentations (August 2002)

Field campaign

Drought puts no damper on STEPS—Staff Notes Monthly (July 2000)

High technology meets the High Plains in STEPS-2000—UCAR Quarterly (Spring 2000)

Largest Effort Yet to Study Lightning and "Dry Storms" Brings High Tech to the High Plains of Colorado and Kansas (May 19, 2000)

STEPS home page

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Turbulence

T-REX (begun March 2006)

The NSF/NCAR HIAPER aircraft (High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research) flew a series of 10-hour missions from its base at Jefferson County Airport in Colorado to California's Owens Valley during the Terrain-Induced Rotor Experiment, or T-REX. The aircraft explored the mountain waves that form over the Sierra Nevada and are associated with treacherous whirlwinds, known as rotors, as well as study the impacts of the waves on atmospheric regions as high as the stratosphere. The research will lead to better prediction of these aviation hazards.

Updates

Notes from the field: Turbulence and pollution (May 2006)

T-REX: Catching the Sierra's waves and rotors—UCAR Quarterly (Spring 2006)

Field campaign

Advanced Aircraft to Probe Hazardous Atmospheric Whirlwinds (March 1, 2006)

T-REX home page

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Weather, climate, space weather observations

COSMIC (begun April 2006)

A globe-spanning constellation of six satellites expected to improve weather forecasts, monitor climate change, and enhance space weather research entered low-Earth orbit on April 14, 2006. The satellites in the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate will be the first to provide atmospheric data daily in real time over thousands of points on Earth for both research and operational weather forecasting by measuring the bending of radio signals from the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) as the signals pass through Earth's atmosphere.

Updates

Innovative Satellite System Proves its Worth with Better Weather Forecasts, Climate Data (December 11, 2006)

Launch

New Satellite System Will Use GPS Signals To Track Hurricanes, Climate Change, and Space Weather (April 12, 2006)

COSMIC Visuals Gallery

COSMIC Fact Sheet

COSMIC home page

Sunrise Solar Telescope (begun October 2007)

NCAR and an international team of research partners launched and tested a solar telescope to an altitude of 120,000 feet, borne by a balloon larger than a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The 2007 test cleared the way for long-duration polar balloon flights beginning in 2009 that will capture unprecedented details of the Sun's surface. The unique approach promises to reveal new insights into the Sun's magnetic field structures, which play a role in electromagnetic storms that can affect satellite communication systems, electrical power grids, and perhaps even climate. The project may usher in a new generation of balloon-borne scientific missions that cost less than sending instruments into space.

Launch

Solar Telescope Reaches 120,000 Feet on Jumbo-Jet-Sized Balloon (October 23, 2007)

Sunrise Visuals & Multimedia Gallery

Sunrise Fact Sheet

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