Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions Data Timeseries @airborneatmosscientist3139

AirborneAtmosScientist Here's another video from the ACCESS project showing what a running time series of the data from our instruments looks like as we move into and out of the DC-8's engine exhaust plume.

For the project, we had a large number of instruments inside the chase plane that measure aerosol and trace gas concentrations and properties. To make these measurements, we would pull air into the plane through a small, 1/4-inch forward-facing stainless steel tube that was mounted to the top of the aircraft (Crown-Mounted Sample Probe).

In this video, you'll see the pilots position the top of the pane within the plume and corresponding increases in the measured concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ultrafine (less than 10 nm diameter), fine (greater than 10nm diameter), and non-volatile (soot) particle number concentrations (Np), and the optical absorption (Abs) of the particles at blue, green, and red light wavelengths.

In between the crown-mounted sample probe measurements, the pilots also put the right wing of the chase aircraft into the contrail plume to measure the ice crystal number concentration (Ncloud) and size distribution (colored by concentration for each diameter, Dp). This measurement is made using a cloud probe that measures the scattering of laser light by the ice crystals as they pass through the beam. We have to use probes of this type to sample water and ice clouds, because we cannot draw the droplets into the main cabin through a tube -- the temperature difference between the cabin (around 60-70 degrees F) and the outside air (much less than 0 degrees F) would cause them to evaporate or sublimate.

Read more:
Biofuel blending reduces particle emissions from aircraft engines at cruise conditions -- doi:10.1038/nature21420
nature.com/articles/nature21420

updated 9 years ago

Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions Data Timeseries

AirborneAtmosScientist 2015-05-20 | Here's another video from the ACCESS project showing what a running time series of the data from our instruments looks like as we move into and out of the DC-8's engine exhaust plume.

For the project, we had a large number of instruments inside the chase plane that measure aerosol and trace gas concentrations and properties. To make these measurements, we would pull air into the plane through a small, 1/4-inch forward-facing stainless steel tube that was mounted to the top of the aircraft (Crown-Mounted Sample Probe).

In this video, you'll see the pilots position the top of the pane within the plume and corresponding increases in the measured concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ultrafine (less than 10 nm diameter), fine (greater than 10nm diameter), and non-volatile (soot) particle number concentrations (Np), and the optical absorption (Abs) of the particles at blue, green, and red light wavelengths.

In between the crown-mounted sample probe measurements, the pilots also put the right wing of the chase aircraft into the contrail plume to measure the ice crystal number concentration (Ncloud) and size distribution (colored by concentration for each diameter, Dp). This measurement is made using a cloud probe that measures the scattering of laser light by the ice crystals as they pass through the beam. We have to use probes of this type to sample water and ice clouds, because we cannot draw the droplets into the main cabin through a tube -- the temperature difference between the cabin (around 60-70 degrees F) and the outside air (much less than 0 degrees F) would cause them to evaporate or sublimate.

Read more:
Biofuel blending reduces particle emissions from aircraft engines at cruise conditions -- doi:10.1038/nature21420
nature.com/articles/nature21420

NAAMES Dataset Offers Exciting Opportunities for Aerosol-Cloud Interactions Research

AirborneAtmosScientist 2020-10-05 | This presentation summarizes the science of NAAMES and some of the important aspects of the study related to aerosol-cloud interactions. This work was presented at the 2020 American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) Annual Conference.

Overview of NASA Langley Aerosol Research During FIREX-AQ

AirborneAtmosScientist 2020-10-05 | The Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) campaign took place in the Summer of 2019. This video outlines some of the smoke particle measurements made aboard NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory.

More information about FIREX-AQ is available online at:
esrl.noaa.gov/csl/projects/firex-aq

00:00 Brief overview of the NASA/NOAA FIREX-AQ mission (esrl.noaa.gov/csl/projects/firex-aq)
06:26 Overview of Langley Aerosol Instrument Group (LARGE; science.larc.nasa.gov/large)
14:00 Extended discussion of LARGE aerosol instrumentation calibration and validation

Arctic Sea Ice and Cloud Experiment

AirborneAtmosScientist 2015-05-20 | This video clip shows the view of the NASA C-130 measuring cloud properties over the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska. The forward facing view is shown in the top-right panel, while the downward facing view is shown in the bottom-right panel. On the left is a time series plot showing the data being collected by instruments on the C-130 in real time.

The Arctic clouds are very heterogeneous, with areas of thick cloud and areas of no cloud encountered as the aircraft flies along a a constant altitude of around 200 m (650 ft.)

Read more:
Arctic Radiation-IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment: The Arctic Radiant Energy System during the Critical Seasonal Ice Transition -- doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00277.1
journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00277.1

Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions Chase Plane Project

AirborneAtmosScientist 2014-07-09 | Videos of the 2014 Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions (ACCESS-II) Project conducted by scientists at NASA Langley Research Center, National Research Council Canada, and the German Aerospace Agency DLR. The objective of the project is to better understand how engine emissions of soot, sulfuric acid, and NOx affect the formation of linear condensation trails (also known as contrails). The NASA DC-8 served as the lead aircraft and burned a variety of fuel types included a modern, low-sulfur jet fuel and a Camelina-based biojet fuel.

Read more:
Biofuel blending reduces particle emissions from aircraft engines at cruise conditions -- doi:10.1038/nature21420
nature.com/articles/nature21420

Ground and takeoff shots credit: NASA/Brian Soukup
NASA HU-25 airborne shots credit NASA/Lori Losey
All other airborne shots credit: NASA/Richard Moore