ATom Postcard - Kona, Hawaii

Atmospheric scientist Jack Dibb of the University of New Hampshire sent a video postcard from the Hawaii leg of the Atmospheric Tomography or ATom mission. On its second worldwide tour, the ATom team flew into Kona, Hawaii, to study small particles like sulfate and nitrate in the atmosphere. Volcanoes like Kilauea, in Hawaii, constantly release sulfate particles, which can oxidize to make sulfuric acid, a component of acid rain.
The ATom mission aboard NASA's DC-8 aircraft and flying laboratory is sampling world-wide in one of the most extensive surveys of the atmosphere to date, measuring over 200 gases as well as airborne particles. The science team is particularly interested in methane, tropospheric ozone and black carbon particles, which have strong effects on climate and which all have both human and natural origins.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Kathryn Mersmann
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