Two new instruments and software are currently being developed by researchers at several of the partner institutes, and will be fitted into the Global Hawk. One of these is GHOST (GreenHouse Observations of the Stratosphere and Troposphere), a short-wave infra-red spectrometer designed to measure greenhouse gas concentrations and the way they are transported through the atmosphere to and from the Earth’s surface. It is being designed and developed at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, and is a joint effort with the Universities of Leicester and Edinburgh.
Dr Hartmut Boesch from the University of Leicester, who is leading the GHOST project, said, ‘The CAST project offers us a unique opportunity to develop an instrument using UK technology, that will address key questions about the transport of greenhouse gases and provide a critical link to satellite observations.’
Over the next 12 months the research teams will be getting ready for the first CAST-ATTREX high altitude flights with the Global Hawk over the Pacific Ocean and South East Asia, which are planned for January or February 2014. The high altitude flights will be complemented by lower-level flying from the NERC /Met Office BAe-146 Atmospheric Research Aircraft, which is managed by FAAM (Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements).
The FAAM aircraft will begin its research mission from Guam in the Pacific Ocean and land on the island of Chuuk for refuelling before flying to the equator and back. The Global Hawk has the advantage of being able to remain airborne for up to 30 hours, and can travel 20,000 km – a distance equivalent to half the Earth’s circumference.
Notes for editors:
1. CAST (Coordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics) - project partners are the Universities of Cambridge (leading), Birmingham, Edinburgh, Hertfordshire, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester and York, and the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh. They are collaborating on this project with NASA’s Eric Jensen (lead PI) and Dave Jordan (project manager), who are leading the ATTREX project in the US.
2. GHOST (GreenHouse Observations of the Stratosphere and Troposphere) - project partners are the Universities of Leicester and Edinburgh, and the STFC’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh.
3. Information about the NASA event: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/dec/HQ_M12-235_Dryden_Earth_Science_Media_Day.html
4. Images and further information about the Global Hawk
Fact sheet http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-098-DFRC.html
Global Hawk image gallery: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/multimedia/imagegallery/Global_Hawk/index.html
More information:
Kate Chapple, Press Office, University of Birmingham, tel 0121 414 2772 or 07789 921164.