Newswise — Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography will be available for a live, online chat with reporters tomorrow. The scientists will discuss preliminary findings from the PACDEX (Pacific Dust Experiment) field campaign as they participate in the mission's second major research flight over the Pacific.
PACDEX examines the environmental impacts of massive plumes of dust and pollutants that blow from Asia to North America. The plumes may influence global climate change, and they also can alter regional precipitation patterns and the amount of sunlight that reaches Earth. Scientists are using the nation's newest and most capable aircraft for environmental research, the National Science Foundation/NCAR Gulfstream-V, to fly through the plumes.
Scientists available to take questions are:
* Jeff Stith (NCAR), taking observations aboard the aircraft* V. Ramanathan (Scripps), monitoring data from the ground
-----Instructions for the online chat-----
NCAR will present the online chat from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time) on Tuesday, May 15, with reporters invited to begin e-mailing questions 30 minutes beforehand.
After the chat, the questions and answers can also be viewed at http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/pacdexchat.shtml.
If the Gulfstream-V flight is delayed due to weather or other reasons and the chat needs to be rescheduled, NCAR will send out a follow-up advisory.
Notes to editors:
PACDEX backgroundhttp://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/pacdex.shtml
PACDEX fact sheethttp://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/pacdexfacts.shtml
PACDEX visualshttp://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/pacdexvisuals.shtml
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