A team of scientists successfully completed the first of five flights from the Arctic to the Antarctic in a project that has been dubbed the most extensive airborne study of greenhouse gases to date, according to a release from the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

The flight is the first step in the three-year venture that will help scientists determine where and when greenhouse gases enter and leave the atmosphere.

"The mission is providing us with amazing data about carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from all over the world," said Britton Stephens, one of the principal investigators and a scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

The findings are expected to help scientists and policymakers make informed decisions on how to better curb global warming.

"This will lead to improved predictions about greenhouse gases and enable society to make better decisions about climate change," Stephens said.

The campaign relies on a high-tech research jet owned by the National Science Foundation (NSF) known as the High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER), which is operated by the NCAR.

The project itself is called HIPPO, which stands for HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations, and it is bringing together scientists from many institutions and organizations across the country.

An Airborne Laboratory

The essential tool in this groundbreaking study is a specially-equipped Gulfstream V jet, which has a range of about 7,000 miles before needing to refuel.

"Essentially, we have a flying laboratory that we're taking around the world, sucking in air and doing the measurements as we go," Stephens said.

Scientists can travel across large expanses of the Pacific Ocean uninterrupted and gather air samples from altitudes as low as 1,000 feet above the surface of the Earth to as high as the lower stratosphere at 47,000 feet.

Many of the instruments aboard the plane were specifically designed for the HIPPO project, and allow the researchers to measure carbon dioxide and other gases around the globe in real time. No longer do the scientists on board need to collect samples in flasks and bring them back to a lab.

Still, that doesn't mean the data gathered is instantly useful.

"Scientists who work with computer models will be busy for years using this information to refine our understanding of atmospheric processes and the role of greenhouse gases," said Schmoltner.

Previously, scientists used both ground stations and satellites to create global averages for carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, but both had their limitations. When there are great distances between ground stations, it can become difficult to gather measurements in certain areas. Similarly, satellites offered limited views and are not practical for gathering regional measurements.

Chasing An Invisible Gas

Tracking the approximated 30 billion tons of carbon emitted each year is one of the major challenges scientists studying climate change face. Sources for the emissions vary, from motor vehicles, to deforestation, to industrial factories.

There are many ways of measuring carbon, such as with an estimated carbon footprint, but not all emissions end up in the atmosphere. In fact, scientists estimate that only 40 percent of the invisible gas accumulates in the atmosphere while the rest is believed to be absorbed by oceans, forests, and other terrestrial ecosystems.

Scientists on the HIPPO team believe flying from pole to pole will help them better understand how the carbon is distributed across the planet.

"This is the first time that anyone has systematically tried to map the distribution of carbon dioxide and related gases from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and from the surface to the upper atmosphere," said Ralph Keeling, a principal investigator with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

This information could help countries or regions balance the "carbon budget," either with a system of carbon credits or by strategically preserving forests or consciously reducing emissions.

"Huge sums of money could exchange hands based on where the carbon appears to be going," Stephens said.

The team plans to study logging and growth in both northern forests and rain forests, and changes in atmospheric winds near Antarctica to determine how each affects carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

The research also hopes to provide a way to evaluate the success of efforts being undertaken to curb carbon dioxide emissions and enhance natural carbon storage.

Carbon dioxide isn't the only star of the show, however; researchers also plan to analyze other gases and particles in the atmosphere that may affect temperatures and climate shifts, either by influencing clouds or by influencing the amount of solar heat that reaches Earth's surface.

Producing A Planetary Portrait

The HIPPO team took off from Colorado on Jan. 8 for their first mission. First, they flew to Alaska and the Arctic Circle before traveling south to New Zealand and Antarctica. The trip will come full-circle after the jet departs from Easter Island and returns to Colorado.

"We're flying this wonderful plane all over the globe and taking a slice out of the atmosphere to see what's in it," said Steven Wofsy of Harvard. "It's the first time we'll be able to see the whole globe all at once in great detail. This is giving us a completely new picture of how greenhouse gases are entering the atmosphere and being removed from it, both by natural processes and by humans."

The other four missions will follow similar flight paths but will occur at different times of the year in order to create seasonal snapshots and investigate how seasons affect concentrations of greenhouse gases.

Scientists hope this groundbreaking study will help to answer additional questions beyond the scope of carbon dioxide tracking, such as why methane levels have tripled in the atmosphere since the Industrial Age and are rising again after leveling off in the 90s.

Although the approach is novel, the basic procedures for the project are well-established.

"Oceanographers have been doing similar mapping of the ocean for decades," said Keeling. "But for the atmosphere, the approach is revolutionary. Each day we get a snapshot of another piece of the world. We are assembling a global picture, flight by flight."

Scientists from NCAR, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Miami, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography are working cooperatively on this venture, which is funded by the NSF and NOAA.