NAAMES

This was the second science flight for NAAMES. Ship operations commenced in the early morning with a station at Point S2 (54.1077^oN, 40.018^oW) under scattered stratocumulus and cumulus clouds at around 1 km altitude. The aircraft transited to the previous ship station (Point S1: 51.01167^oN, 43.635^oW) and then proceeded at high altitude over Point S3 (52.1147^oN, 39.913^oW) before turning northward to the ship position at Point S2.

This was the first science flight for NAAMES. The ship carried out its first morning station at Point S1 (51.01167^oN, 43.635^oW) and was largely covered by a stratocumulus cloud deck at roughly 1-2 km GPS altitude. The aircraft transited from St. John’s Int’l Airport to the ship position at Point S1 at high altitude, with a series of speed, yaw, and pitch vertical winds calibration maneuvers completed at roughly 15,000 ft. altitude on the way out.

The North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) is an interdisciplinary investigation resolving key processes controlling marine ecosystems and aerosols that are essential to our understanding of Earth system function and future change.

The North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) is an interdisciplinary investigation resolving key processes controlling marine ecosystems and aerosols that are essential to our understanding of Earth system function and future change. NAAMES is funded by the NASA Earth Venture Suborbital Program and is the first EV-S mission focused on studying the coupled ocean ecosystem and atmosphere.

NASA begins a five-year study this month of the annual cycle of phytoplankton and the impact that small airborne particles emitted from the ocean have on the climate-sensitive North Atlantic.