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Radio Chatter: PPA is engaged

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Radio Chatter: And we're radiating.

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Narration: One of the best ways to track
how an environment is changing

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is to observe it from above.

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But where weather

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and vegetation can make it difficult
to see the ground with the naked eye,

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specialized radar can pierce the clouds
to give us a crystal clear

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look at the landscape.

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This special device - weighing nearly
1,000 lbs -

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collects data about soil moisture,
vegetation, permafrost

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and other environmental processes
on the ground below.

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In fact, it's so precise
that NASA developed a special system

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for pilots to fly the exact same 
flight path year after year

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to get an accurate reading as to
how a landscape is changing over time.

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Dr. Hoy: So with the airborne data,
we can target exactly where we want to go

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and exactly when we want to go there. 

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And we get very high resolution data
so we can have a really clear picture

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of what's on the ground.

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Narration: That's Dr. Liz Hoy,

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Senior Scientist for NASA's
ABoVE Mission.

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ABoVE has spent the last seven years
studying environmental changes

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in the Arctic and boreal regions.

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The mission
uses satellite, airborne and ground data

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to get a complete picture
of what is unfolding in these ecosystems.

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Dr. Hoy: So our satellite data gives us
a very broad picture of what's happening

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all over the landscape.

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And then with our airborne data,

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we can target specific locations and times
when we want to get imagery.

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And then we can compare both our satellite
and our airborne data

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with what's happening on the ground.

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And we have teams actually
out on the ground making measurements.

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And putting all that together

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is really where we get a lot of the power
of what we're able to study.

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Narration: And it all gets put together in Alaska.