The Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex) is a response to the need to deconvolute the fields of tropical meteorology and aerosol science at the meso-b to cloud level. The NASA Earth Science Division will be operating NASA’s P-3 (tail number N426NA) research aircraft and the SPEC, Inc. Lear Jet 35A (tail number N474KA) out of Clark Airport in the Philippines during the period 20 August to 10 October 2019. The scientific questions to be addressed by the Cloud and Aerosol Monsoonal Processes: Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex) are:
To what extent are aerosol particles responsible for modulating warm and mixed phase precipitation in tropical environments?
Aerosol and cloud microphysics: Examine how aerosol particle concentration and composition affect the optical and microphysical properties of shallow cumulous and congest clouds; and how, ultimately, these effects relate to the transition from shallower to deeper convection.
How does the aerosol and cloud influence on radiation co-vary and interact?
Cloud and Aerosol Radiation: Study how spatially inhomogeneous and changing aerosol and cloud fields impact three dimensional heating rates and fluxes, and determine the extent to which three dimensional effects may feedback into the evolution of the aerosol, cloud, and precipitation fields.
To what extent do aerosol induced changes in clouds and precipitation feedback into aerosol lifecycle? How does land use change affect cloud and precipitation change? Is land use change a confounder for aerosol impacts?
Aerosol and cloud meteorology: Determine the meteorological features that are the most influential in regulating the distribution of aerosol particles throughout the regional atmosphere and, ultimately, aerosol lifecycle, and ascertain the extent to which aerosol-cloud interactions studies are confounded and/or modulated by co-varying meteorology.
The research aircraft will be flown primarily over the ocean in the vicinity of the Philippines, including the ocean west of Luzon. The flights will include flying over, under and through convective cloud systems. In accord with NASA Earth Science data policy, the data and scientific results from this field campaign will be freely and openly available.
Download the CAMP2Ex Deployment Orientation Guide HERE. (ver Aug 13, 2019)
See one of our CAMP2Ex videos which explain our mission and its objectives: