4STAR Team Partners with Canadian National Research Council to Study Aerosols in Northern Alberta

The NASA Ames-based instrument 4STAR (Spectrometers for Sky-Scanning Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research) team has formed a new partnership with the Canadian National Research Council (NRC) to integrate the instrument onto the Canadian airborne platform, Convair 580.  BAER Institute Research Scientist Samuel LeBlanc, who supported the integration of the 4STAR onto this research platform, has started an exchange of data analysis and scientific questions with the NRC. 4STAR will provide measurements of Aerosol Optical Depth, along with aerosol intensive properties, focusing on understanding the development of aerosols after their emissions, as well as linking them to satellite measurements and relevant climate measurements. The NRC is flying the Convair 580 and the 4STAR to the Canadian Oil Sands Region in Northern Alberta this June and July to sample the outflow of aerosols from various Oil Sand processing stations. Also, the Convair 580 will be looking for opportunities to sample biomass burning plumes during the Boreal Forest fire season.

Posing in front of The Convair 580 in the Hangar at Ottawa, Canada, from left to right, Samuel LeBlanc (BAERI), Konstantin Baibakov (NRC), and Roy Johnson (NASA Ames)

4STAR head (round black) on top of the Canadian NRC’s Convair 580 ready for deployment to the Canadian Oil Sands Region