ATTREX-Aircraft_Radiation_Measurements

ATTREX-Aircraft_Radiation_Measurements are in-situ radiation measurements collected onboard the Global Hawk Unihabited Aerial System (UAS) during the Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment (ATTREX) campaign. This collection consists of in-situ radiation properties collected by the Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR) during the 2011 and 2013 deployments over California, and 2014 deployment over Guam. Data collection is complete. Even though it is typically found in low concentrations, stratospheric water vapor has large impacts on the Earth’s climate and energy budget. Studies have suggested that even relatively small changes in stratospheric humidity may have significant climate impacts and future changes in stratospheric humidity and ozone concentration in response to a changing climate are significant climate feedback. Tropospheric water vapor climate feedback is typically well represented in global models. However, predictions of future changes in stratospheric humidity are highly uncertain due to gaps in our understanding of physical processes occurring in the region of the atmosphere that controls the composition of the stratosphere, the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL, ~13-18 km). The ability to predict future changes in stratospheric ozone are also limited due to uncertainties in the chemical composition of the TTL. In order to address these uncertainties, the Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment (ATTREX) was completed. Instruments during ATTREX provided measurements to trace the movement of reactive halogen-containing compounds and other important chemical species, the size and shape of cirrus cloud particles, water vapor, and winds in three dimensions through the TTL. Bromine-containing gases were measured to improve understanding of stratospheric ozone. ATTREX consisted of four NASA Global Hawk Uninhabited Aerial System (UAS) campaigns deployed from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (formally Dryden Flight Research Center). Campaigns were deployed over Edwards, CA, Guam, Hawaii, and Darwin, Australia in Boreal summer, winter, fall, and summer, respectively.