Pole-to-pole flights monitor circulation of atmospheric trace gases
AUG 20, 2010
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.024605
Nature : Nitrous oxide concentrations that increase rather than decrease with altitude and soot particles that do not stray as far from their origins as expected are just two of the findings that have resulted from a pioneering set of scientific flights.This past spring a specially equipped Gulfstream V jet flew from the US to the Arctic, turned south to fly over the Pacific to the Antarctic, and then returned to the US. Along its journey, which included excursions in altitude down to 150 m and up to 14 km, the jet’s instruments gathered data on a range of atmospheric gases and aerosols. Nature‘s Jeff Tollefson reports on the results.
© 2010 American Institute of Physics
