NASA's TC4 Mission to Study the Troposphere

Scientists will hold a media teleconference on Wednesday, June 27, at 2 p.m. EDT to discuss the upcoming Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling (TC4) field campaign. (If you are getting to this page too late, you can still visit the TC4 homepage.) The NASA TC4 mission will investigate the structure, properties and processes in the tropical Eastern Pacific.

Why Study the Tropical Pacific Troposphere?

The chemical, dynamic, and physical processes occurring in the tropical upper troposphere remain a mystery. Global climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, and global tropospheric chemistry investigation are some of the crucial roles of the TC4 mission.

TC4 aircraft observations will validate satellite data and provide critical observations not available from satellites. High altitude aircraft will collect tropopause data while the medium altitude aircraft will provide profiles and structure measurements of the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.

The TC4 study will tackle challenging questions about Earth's ozone layer and climate using coordinated observations from satellites and high-flying NASA airplanes. The campaign will be based out of San Jose, Costa Rica, starting in mid-July. An audio presentation will be available at http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio.