GTE-TRACE: Transport and Atmospheric Chemistry near the Equator-Atlantic

Summary

The NASA TRACE-A (Transport and Atmospheric Chemistry near the Equator-Atlantic) field study was deployed in August 1992 to determine the cause and source of high concentrations of ozone that accumulate over the Atlantic ocean between southern Africa and South America during the months of August through October. The enhanced levels of ozone were observed to be the highest during the southern hemisphere's springtime, a period of intense burning of vegetation in both southern Africa and South America. The TRACE-A results showed the link between the biomass burning and the ozone pollution. The TRACE-A mission brought together a multi-year series of ground based and balloon measurements, aircraft measurements over Brazil, southern Africa, and the Atlantic ocean, and powerful computer models of the tropical atmosphere. TRACE-A was a cooperative project between NASA and the Brazilian Space Agency (INPE), involving over 200 scientists from US, Brazil and South Africa. The centerpiece of TRACE-A was the NASA DC-8 flying laboratory based at the NASA Ames Research Center. The DC-8 was instrumented with state-of-the-art instruments for measurements of ozone and other gases that are associated with the production of ozone in the atmosphere.