Like so many other things, NASA's SnowEx 2021 looks a little different than usual this year. But one thing is business as usual, and that's the participation of undergraduate and graduate students. Students play a pivotal role in SnowEx, from suiting up for data collection to crunching the numbers afterward. The field sites become a …
By Elena Solohin, Florida International University /NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA/ My colleague, Emily, and I, with Florida International University's Wetland Ecosystems Research Lab, kicked off our 2021 field season with a trip to the Mississippi River Delta to conduct research for NASA's Delta-X project. We met up with a team of scientists from Louisiana State University …
By John Mallard and Tamlin Pavelsky, University of North Carolina /NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA/ Cruising through a bayou during recent fieldwork in the Mississippi River Delta, our boat driver casually pointed out an alligator and zoomed on by without slowing. After seeing us scramble to get out our phones to take a picture, though, he realized …
By Amanda Fontenot, Louisiana State University /NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA/ Although most of my work happens in the lab, office, or home, field days are some of the most important days of the year for my research. "Going to the field" is when we get to physically visit the wetlands that we spend so much …
By Dan McGrath and Randall Bonnell, Colorado State University /CAMERON PASS, COLORADO/ The word lightspeed conjures different images for different people. Star Wars fans may connect lightspeed to the Millennium Falcon, while radar scientists may think of the velocity of electromagnetic energy. Radio waves, a form of electromagnetic energy, travel at "lightspeed" through a vacuum, …
By Katy Mersmann, NASA We're so saddened by the loss of our teammate Dr. Gemma Teresa Narisma. She was a passionate climate researcher and the Philippine lead for the Cloud, Aerosol, and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex). As the director of the Manila Observatory and a professor at Ateneo de Manila University, she not only …
By Gabrielle Antonioli, Montana State University /BOISE, IDAHO/ Being a snow scientist is an interesting career. Growing up in a small town in Montana, I was immersed in snow. But I saw it as one set thing—a blanket, unmoving, a cold, white mass. Only far later in life did I learn what a changing and …
By Joe Atkinson / NASA'S LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER, HAMPTON, VIRGINIA/ A NASA airborne study has returned to the field for a second year of science flights to advance the accuracy of short- and long-term climate models. The Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) began the third of six planned flight campaigns …
By Lara Streiff Despite racing against impending harsh weather conditions, a red and white World War II aircraft flew slowly and steadily over the icy waters surrounding Greenland in August and September. Three weeks delayed by pandemic restrictions, scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory inside this retrofitted DC-3 plane started dropping hundreds of probes as …
By Joe Atkinson / NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia/ Four months ago, with COVID-19 disrupting life across the globe, it seemed virtually unthinkable that a major NASA airborne science campaign would fly again anytime soon. But today, that's exactly what's happening. In August, NASA's Aerosol Cloud Meteorology Interactions Over the Western Atlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) eased …
