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The Arctic is getting greener and wetter,

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warming roughly twice as fast as the rest of the planet.

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This summer, NASA scientists took a bird’s eye view…several of them, in fact…

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to study changes in the region.

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As part of the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment, or ABoVE,

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scientists from NASA and partner organizations flew a total of 10 planes over Alaska and Canada

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to gather important instrument data, measuring everything from

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carbon in the atmosphere to water levels in lakes and rivers and thawing permafrost.

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These data will be combined with measurements taken from field sites

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to get a comprehensive picture of environmental change in the Arctic.

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On the Active Sensing of Carbon dioxide Emissions over Nights, Days and Seasons, or ASCENDS,

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experiment, NASA’s DC-8 plane flew big looping spirals

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over Alaska and Canada to measure carbon dioxide and methane released into the atmosphere.

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Scientists down on the tundra

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are looking for sources and sinks for this carbon dioxide and methane.

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NASA’s partner organizations are studying emissions from thawing permafrost,

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using plexiglass boxes that sit directly on the ground

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as well as small towers that measure how carbon dioxide, methane and energy

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move from the land surface to the atmosphere and back.

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Attacking the research from multiple vantage points helps the scientists in the air

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ensure that their instruments are functioning properly, and tests them against known measurements.

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In addition, it can help the science teams

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pinpoint the potential causes of changes their instruments read.

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For the ASCENDS team, that may mean determining if carbon spikes they see in the air

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are from wildfires or organic materials decomposing underground.

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With the summer over in the Arctic, the ABoVE team is finished with the second year

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of research in the region. Next summer, they’ll be back in the field to collect another round of data.

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The campaign is designed to run for 10 years

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to provide a look at long-term trends caused by the warming climate.

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