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♪

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>>Our planet is a living example
of a delicate balance

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a complex system that is
constantly changing,

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constantly evolving,
constantly adapting.

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How do these changes
affect life on Earth?

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How does everyday life
affect our planet?

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We have a great capability to
absorb, interpret and comprehend

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And an urge to understand
the world we live in.

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This is what defines us
as human beings...

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What makes us who we are.

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With our technological
advancements

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we are now capable of exploring
new worlds, new frontiers.

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We're searching for answers that
may lay in front of us...

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Better yet... above us!

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The field phase of the
experiment is about to begin.

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All the planning, sleepless
nights, meetings and hard work

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the team has invested in
the mission are at stake.

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My name is Jasna Pittman,

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and I'm one of the many
scientists working on

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the Airborne Tropical
Tropopause Experiment (ATTREX)

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>>It is very natural for humans

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to want to understand how
the world around us works.

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>>Why the atmosphere
does what it does?

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It's like solving a puzzle!

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>>You just want to understand
how it works.

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>>We're trying to understand
how we're affecting,

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how humans are affecting
the atmosphere.

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>>Understanding how the
stratosphere changes

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very much reflects how
our climate is changing.

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>>I think that the work that is
done in atmospheric science

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is very important!
But it's also a lot of fun!

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>>It's like the best job possible!

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♪

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>>NASA has been doing airborne
science investigations

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for quite some time.

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Some of the earliest
investigations we were doing

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was related to the early days
of the Antarctic ozone hole.

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>>In 2009 we started a new program
called the Earth Venture Program.

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It's got three parts;
and the first of those parts

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is what we call
sub-orbital science.

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this is science done not
including a new satellite.

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>>With some of these
newer missions

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we have let the community
come up with their own ideas,

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their own way of
implementing the mission,

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what their own science
requirements are

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and they bring their
measurements to the table.

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>>And ATTREX had
very good science,

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was very relevant to the kind
of questions we wanted answered,

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and its budget was
reasonable and appropriate.

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>>So ATTREX is an airborne
campaign to try to understand

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how stratospheric water vapor
affects climate.

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>>It causes perhaps, maybe,
15 to 20 percent

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of the warming that we've had
in the past 15 or 20 years.

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>>It turns out that small changes
in humidity in the stratosphere

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are very important for climate
and for surface temperature.

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They are actually comparable
to the importance

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of greenhouse gases that
everybody knows about.

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>>So we know that carbon dioxide
was less 30 years ago.

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Methane was less
30 years ago.

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Nitrous oxide was less
30 years ago.

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So we know these gases
are increasing with time.

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>>Gases that affect the
chemistry of the stratosphere

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which is where the
ozone layer exists

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and protects us from
ultraviolet radiation.

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>>So understanding the rate
at which this stuff

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gets into the stratosphere
and how it changes

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is extremely important to
looking at the climate

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of the stratosphere and how
the stratosphere climate affects

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the lower atmosphere.

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>>So we really need to understand

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what controls the humidity
of the stratosphere

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and actually be able to
predict that in the future

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in order to improve the accuracy

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of our predictions of
future climate change.

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And it turns out that the most
important place to go sample

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to understand that, is the
tropical upper troposphere.

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The top of the troposphere
in the tropics is called

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the "tropopause" which is
actually at a very high-altitude

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which is why we need a high
altitude aircraft to study it.

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>>So the tropical tropopause

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is at about 55,000 feet
in the tropics.

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So if you go down to the equator
you have to go up quite high

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above 50,000 feet.

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And the tropical tropopause is really important
to the global atmosphere

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because most of the gases
that get into the stratosphere,

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all the air that is circulating
upward into the stratosphere,

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goes through this tropical
tropopause region.

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>>So that is basically a
gateway to the stratosphere.

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General circulation transports
air upward in the tropics,

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goes into the stratosphere,

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and then spread throughout
the stratosphere

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and comes down at the higher
latitudes in the polar regions.

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>>And this is what ATTREX
is focused on,

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to look at that motion of air
into the stratosphere

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and how the water is removed

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from that air as
it rises upward.

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>>We know a lot about it,
but there are some puzzles

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about the details of
how the clouds form,

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and under what
conditions they form.

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So that's probably the
most important thing

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that we hope to
gain from ATTREX.

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>>ATTREX will address a number
of really important issues.

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It'll give us a better
understanding of the exchange

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between the troposphere
and stratosphere

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and how that impacts
atmospheric composition.

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How that affects the chemistry
in the upper atmosphere.

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And, in the longer term,

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how that will affect
the climate.

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>>And that will help us to
understand as we go forward

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trying to figure out what
to do about climate change

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to better predict it
and make better decisions.

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>>How does the interaction between
the upper troposphere

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and the lower stratosphere
affects us down below?

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How are we going to find out?

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We have the questions.