NASA Global Hawk Conducting Climate Change Studies

By Danielle Lucey

One of NASA's Global Hawks. Photo courtesy NASA/Tony Landis.

NASA has started up a science mission for one of its Global Hawks, focusing on atmospheric change related to the Earth's climate. The Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment, or ATTREX, kicked off 16 Jan. out of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. The study is scheduled to run through 15 March. 



Northrop Grumman, maker of NASA's Global Hawks, is providing engineering analysis, mission planning, maintenance, pilots and flight operations support for the mission, according to a company press release. 



"Global Hawk is able to fly as high as 65,000 feet for periods up to 31 hours, providing the unique combination of high-altitude and long-endurance performance capabilities that allow the science community to study and deepen our understanding of climate change," says Fred Ricker, vice president and deputy general manager for Advanced Development Programs for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector. "Global Hawk is the only aircraft able to repeatedly access the atmosphere above and below the tropopause layer, and it can do that over thousands of miles."



A Global Hawk previously supported a NASA ATTREX mission in Fall 2011 with flights over the Pacific, ranging between 45,000 and 65,000 feet. The aircraft gathered data on water vapor and other aerosols. 



"Studies have shown that even small changes in stratospheric humidity may cause climate impact that is more significant than the impact of greenhouse gases," says the Northrop Grumman press release.