In July 2023, NASA’s ER-2 aircraft has been flying close to thunderclouds to investigate lightning and its connection to the vast energy fields in our atmosphere.
In July 2023, NASA’s ER-2 aircraft has been flying close to thunderclouds to investigate lightning and its connection to the vast energy fields in our atmosphere. As the highest-flying plane of NASA’s Airborne Science Program, the ER-2 is giving researchers a new angle on storm clouds.
Historically, lightning has only been researched by low-flying aircraft or ground observers too far from thunderclouds to examine their detailed characteristics. Satellites like NASA’s TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission) and NOAA's GOES (Geostationary Environmental Satellite), as well as the Lightning Imaging Sensor on the International Space Station, have measured lightning and related energy discharges from hundreds to thousands of miles above. NASA’s ER-2 airplane, however, can fly at about 60,000 feet (20,000 meters), an ideal altitude and proximity to thunderclouds.
Scientists participating in the ALOFT project -- Airborne Lightning Observatory for Fly’s Eye Simulator and Terrestrial Gamma Rays -- have been using the ER-2 to fly above Central America, the Caribbean, and the coast of Florida, which are hotspots for thunderstorm activity at this time of year. From just above the height of a thundercloud, the team expects to collect detailed data that can advance the study of high-energy radiation emissions from thunderstorms. The field campaign includes instruments and researchers from the University of Birkeland in Norway, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Goddard Space Flight Center, Sandia National Labs, and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
Read more at NASA
Image: NASA Armstrong’s ER-2 aircraft flies high to study lightning (Credit: NASA Photo)
