New NASA campaign to focus on climate impacts in Arctic

NASA researchers this summer and fall are carrying out three Alaska-based airborne research campaigns aimed at measuring greenhouse gas concentrations near Earth’s surface. They would be monitoring Alaskan glaciers, and collecting data on Arctic sea ice and clouds.

“Observations from these NASA campaigns will give researchers a better understanding of how the Arctic is responding to rising temperatures,” says a NASA press release.
 
The Arctic Radiation – IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment, or ARISE, is a new NASA airborne campaign to collect data on thinning sea ice and measure cloud and atmospheric properties in the Arctic. The campaign was designed to address questions about the relationship between retreating sea ice and the Arctic climate.

According to the international space agency, in high-latitude areas like Alaska, frozen ground known as permafrost can trap large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane produced by layers of decayed plant and animal matter. As permafrost temperatures have been increasing faster than air temperatures in the Arctic, scientists have questioned whether these heat-trapping gases could be released into the atmosphere, increasing their global concentrations.

Can regional climate engineering save the summer Arctic sea ice?

Arctic amplification decreases temperature variance in northern mid- to high-latitudes

Energy budget of first-year Arctic sea ice in advanced stages of melt

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