Gulfstream-159 (G-1) research plane from the ARM Aerial Facility – in flight.
In the News: Sébastien Biraud led an ARM-ACME V team through a 16-week airborne campaign to collect data over the tundra of Alaska’s North Slope. The team flew 38 flights, just 500 feet above ground, from June 1 to September 15, using a Gulfstream-159 (G-1) research aircraft from the ARM Aerial Facility. Most flights went over Oliktok Point, Barrow, Atqasuk, Ivotuk, and Toolik Lake. The data collected from the flights over Oliktok Point and Barrow will be compared to data collected by ARM ground sites there. See ARM website and DOE’s Science Headlines.
Area surveyed by campaign.
Members of the ARM-ACME V team are Michael Hubbell (pilot), Jonathan Ray (pilot), Mike Crocker (mechanic)
Jason Tomlinson (flight engineer), Dan Nelson (Technician), Beat Schmid (AAF Director), Victor Morris (Technician), and Mikhail Pekour (flight engineer).
Flight crew members (from left to right): Clayton Eveland (pilot), John Hubbe (flight Engineer), Allen Cordle (pilot), Sébastien Biraud (scientist/PI), and Albert Mendoza (flight Engineer)
“Given the usual challenging weather in the North Slope, and there being snow in August, this is the best and most complete data set I’ve ever collected,” said Biraud. “Because we flew so often over a longer period of time, about every four days over three months, we were able to see changes at synoptic and seasonal scales. As a surprise, we still observed methane concentration enhancements, even though the snow covering the ground acted as a lid would on a bottle.”
Gathering and assessing these data will lead to improved current climate models, which now underestimate how rapidly the arctic is warming.