The most intensive study ever of the global carbon cycle and greenhouse
gases has begun with top researchers from the United States flying
pole-to-pole in an effort to better understand climate change.

BOULDER, COLORADO, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 6, 2009) NCAR -
It's the most advanced airborne research facility ever built in the
United States and it's carrying scientists on a two-year mission they hope
will provide the best ever look at the planet's carbon cycle and greenhouse
gas origins.

The research group, which began the mission last week from Boulder,
Colorado, will cover more than 24-thousand miles (38,624 km) and fly from the
Arctic to Antarctic while sampling the atmosphere in some of the most
inaccessible regions of the world.

"By taking this aircraft...we are able to cover and enormous
distance and we are able to see the influence on carbon dioxide from all of
these different regions," said Britt Stephens, Co-Lead Researcher From
The National Center For Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

The aircraft being used for the mission is the National Science
Foundation's (NSF) HIAPER or High Performance
Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental
Research. HIAPER's maximum altitude and range, plus the ability to
carry 5,600 pounds (2,540 kilograms) of state-of-the-art sensors, set it apart
from other research aircraft. A modified Gulfstream V, it will be able to
reach 51,000 feet (15,500 meters), enabling scientists to collect data from
the lower edge of the stratosphere. With a range of about 7,000 miles (11,265
kilometers), it can track atmospheric particles across the oceans or reach the
South Pole from bases in South America or New Zealand.

Stephen Wofsy, a researcher from Harvard University, believes the
mission will provide the best ever 'global snapshot' of how the carbon cycle
and greenhouse gas emission affect the Earth's climate.

"It is the first time we will get a look in great detail at the
whole globe all at once. Nobody has ever done that. Satellites see the whole
globe, but they don't see it in great detail. This aircraft has the capability
and this team has the capability to do that in a way that has never been done
before," Wofsy said.

Just before boarding the plane early Monday morning Wofsy said the
mission so far has been a success.
"We are on the plane right now preparing to fly north just short
of the Pole. This is one of our most important flights. The first flight of
the series, from Colorado to Anchorage, was very successful. We observed many
major features of the sob-polar winter atmosphere," he added.

The researchers aboard the mission believe the data they collect will
enable them to better understand the relationship between greenhouse gas
emissions and climate change.

"We will have a completely new picture about how greenhouse gases
are entering the atmosphere and being removed by the atmosphere both by
natural processes and by humans," said Wofsy.

The research team plans on measuring cross-sections of atmospheric
concentrations approximately pole-to-pole, from the surface to the upper
atmosphere, four times during different seasons.

"This will allow us to make better predictions of carbon dioxide
concentrations in the future, which will allow us to better plan how to deal
with global climate change," said Stephens.

But the answers will not come quickly. The researchers say the
collection and collation of the data will take at least two years.