NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory lifts off the runway at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., on its first flight in the ARCTAS atmospheric science mission

NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory lifts off the runway at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., on its first flight in the ARCTAS atmospheric science mission.

NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory lifts off the runway at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., on its first flight in the ARCTAS atmospheric science mission.

Photographer NASA/Carla Thomas
Location AFRC
Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from AircrARCTASThree NASA research aircraftground stationsweather balloonsDC-8 flying laboratory21 experiments35 scientistsInternational Polar YearFairbanksAlaskaThuleGreenlandthick aerosol layersarctic hazeCold LakeAlbertaCanadaboreal forest firesnorthwest Canada