NASA Plans Research Projects across Globe

NASA has planned eight major projects that will be undertaken over a period of coming six months. The research projects will range from Greenland ice sheet to the coral reefs of the South Pacific. The purpose of this scientific investigations campaign is to understand the extent to which the Earth is changing and how humans are affecting this change.

"Combining the long-term global view from space with detailed measurements from field experiments is a powerful way of deciphering what's happening in our world," said the Director of NASA's Earth Science Division, Michael Freilich.

The first project has already begun and involves investigating the level of ice sheets being melted from below by the oceans surrounding Greenland. The Korea US-Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) project in South Korea is set to commence is May 2016, with focus on air quality.

The project, which will be jointly carried out by NASA and the Republic of Korea, will be intended towards boosting the air pollution monitoring capabilities from space, amid corresponding observations through aircraft, ground sites, ships and satellites.

Another project that will start in May is the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study that will enter its second year into the sea and air to understand the creation of small organic particles by the world's largest plankton bloom. These particles affect clouds and weather.

The teams of scientists involved in the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment will be spending most of the year in the tundra and forests of Alaska and northwestern Canada to study how climate affects wild fires, thawing permafrost, wildlife migration habits and insect outbreaks.

The investigation on airborne and in-water instruments in Hawaii by the Coral Reef Airborne Laboratory project team will start in June aimed at understanding the state of threatened coral-based ecosystems. Three airborne projects will commence in the summer and will focus primarily on the atmospheric components crucial to climate.