Agriculture is a pillar of the U.S. economy, yet it is also a major source of gaseous and particulate emissions that affect air quality, climate, ecosystems, and stratospheric ozone. FarmFlux is a NASA Earth Venture Suborbital mission designed to close major gaps in our understanding of the agriculture - atmosphere interface. Science objectives center on emissions from key agricultural sectors, atmospheric processes, and earth system impacts.
Objective 1. Quantify the magnitude and near-source fate of emissions from animal feeding operations and characterize major human and environmental controls. (threshold)
Objective 2. Quantify the bidirectional exchange of gases over major crop systems and connect fluxes to surface and environmental controls. (threshold)
Objective 3. Explain the physical and chemical properties of particulate matter in agricultural regions.(baseline)
Objective 4. Connect agricultural emissions to air quality impacts and advance new satellite data applications over agricultural areas. (baseline)
These objectives call for sustained and coincident in situ observations of multiple atmospheric parameters across the breadth of U.S. agriculture. FarmFlux will deploy two aircraft over a single year and leverage advanced airborne experiments to acquire the necessary data.
Project Website: https://earth.gsfc.nasa.gov/acd/campaigns/farmflux
FarmFlux WhitePaper
Principal Investigator: Glenn M. Wolfe - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Deputy Principal Investigator: Emily V. Fischer - Colorado State University
Deputy Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Geddes - Boston University
EVS-4 Program Executive: Bruce Tagg - NASA Headquarters
EVS-4 Program Scientist: Barry Lefer - NASA Headquarters
Program Scientist: - Ryan Pavlick - NASA Headquarters
Deputy Program Scientist: - Kathy Hibbard - NASA Headquarters
EVS-4 Mission Manager: Diane Hope - NASA Langley Research Center
Investigation Manager: Roy R. Johnson - NASA Ames Research Center