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earth's atmosphere

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it's the air we breathe the force that

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regulates our temperature weather and

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importantly what cleanses pollutants

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from the environment

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we've begun to realize that our

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atmosphere has no geographical

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boundaries when it comes to pollution

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airborne industrial waste in one area

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can litter forests thousands of miles

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away with acid rain

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due to our everyday activities a host of

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gases such as carbon dioxide and methane

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are being released into the atmosphere

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of the watering rates

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these greenhouse gases are known to trap

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heat near the surface of the earth that

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otherwise would radiate into space

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potentially causing serious global

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warming this problem has been studied by

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scientists for many years

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but never with the detail an airborne

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observatory can make flying at all

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levels of the atmosphere to do this us

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and canadian scientists teamed up to

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study greenhouse gases in the remote

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northern latitudes of canada

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the program called able for

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atmospheric boundary layer experiment is

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the third in a series of nasa-sponsored

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research expedition

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initiated in the early 80s abel will

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eventually study major ecosystems around

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the globe to better understand the

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dynamics of our atmosphere

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with the help of mcgill university a

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ground-based site was chosen in northern

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quebec that featured a forest and

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wetlands environment

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scientists from harvard and the state

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university of new york built a 100 foot

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tower at the forest site to sample

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atmospheric chemistry and collect

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meteorological data

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meanwhile nasa biospherics researcher

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gary whiting and assistant joel canez

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spent countless hours at the nearby

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wetlands measuring gases given off by

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detailed studies of the marsh plants

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were also made by a group from the

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university of delaware to characterize

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their growth patterns and how they

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transport methane gas into the

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atmosphere

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because of their hollow stems these

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plants are very efficient transporters

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of methane piping the gas directly into

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the sky

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many other measurements such as balloon

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sawns track local winds temperatures and

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an electric aircraft from nasa's wallops

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flight facility virginia threw repeated

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missions over the sites

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seven experiments took air samples and

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measured various chemical concentrations

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dr ed browell of nasa's langley research

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center used an instrument that shoots a

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laser beam above and below the aircraft

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to plot a cross-sectional view of the

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atmosphere

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the reddish-orange colors represent

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regions containing higher concentrations

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of ozone another greenhouse gas

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studying atmospheric events from the sky

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and the ground giving scientists an