The airplanes went home in December. The radars pulled out in January. So what is going on with OLYMPEX in February and March? In our past blogs we stressed how during OLYMPEX we measured the structure of precipitation as winter cyclones passed from the Pacific Ocean across the Olympic Peninsula and the Olympic Mountains. And […]
Moabi Trees of Lope
The AfriSAR campaign is in its second week of collecting data over different forests of Gabon using airborne radar and laser instruments, UAVSAR and LVIS. While most of the NASA airborne crew are located in the City of Libreville supporting the data acquisitions and logistics, the science teams have been busy collecting data on […]
Measuring Tropical Forests in Gabon
Gabon is home to one of the most pristine rainforests on the planet—devoid of people and intact in most places, while rich in animals and plants. The Gabonese forests are representative of the Congolian tropical forests, altogether the second largest rainforest in the world after the Amazon. This makes the small Central African country the […]
ABoVE: Safety first!
Field season is an exciting time for scientists – we leave behind the comforts of labs and offices to collect data in remote locations. Preparing for the field season is no easy task and requires an enormous amount of planning. Considerations such as “how many data loggers can I fit in my checked bag?” and […]
Sled Dogs Lead the Way to Denali Monitoring Site
To research the wintry tundra near Denali National Park, scientists often turn to a four-legged mode of transport to reach their field — sled dogs. At Eight Mile Lake, just outside the Park boundaries, lies an important study site for NASA. Dr. Ted Schuur from the University of Northern Arizona operates a suite of instruments […]
Welcome to ABoVE
The laboratory for ABoVE is vast. The field campaign – the Arctic Boreal and Vulnerability Experiment – covers 2.5 million square miles of tundra, mountains, permafrost, lakes, and forests in Alaska and Northwestern Canada. ABoVE scientists are using satellites and aircraft study this formidable terrain as it changes in a warming climate, but remote sensing […]
The End of Our Adventure
By Christine Dow We have arrived back safe and sound after 11 days crossing the Southern Ocean. Our exit from Jang Bogo involved one last (very short) helicopter ride taking us to the Araon icebreaker so that they didn’t have to re-break ice to get back into port. I stayed up till the wee hours […]
Final Data Collection and Farewell to Jang Bogo
By Ryan Walker Before it was time to recheck our GPS stations and download data from them, the icebreaker Araon arrived at Jang Bogo, bringing new scientists, a new helicopter crew, fresh food, and other supplies. Because of heavy sea ice cover on the bay, the arrival was in slow motion, taking most of a […]
First Data Collection Day
By Christine Dow The big day had arrived. We were due to fly to our tiltmeters to collect the data that they had been gathering for two weeks. once this was the first time we had ever set these instruments up in the field, all fingers were crossed that we had been precise enough in […]