NASA will host a media availability at the Fairbanks International Airport in Fairbanks, Alaska, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Alaska Time (8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. EDT), Wednesday Aug. 24, for the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE), a set of research projects studying the effects of climate change on northern ecosystems from aircraft and field projects.
Media are invited to speak with NASA mission members and tour NASA’s research aircraft at ABoVE’s base of operations at the Fixed Base Operations Alaska Aerofuel, located at the Fairbanks International Airport.
The Arctic is warming four times faster due to climate change than the rest of the planet. The ABoVE mission covers 2.5 million square miles of tundra, forests, permafrost, and lakes in Alaska and Northwestern Canada. ABoVE scientists use satellites and aircraft to study this formidable terrain as it changes in a warming climate. Remote sensing by itself is not enough to understand the whole picture, so teams of researchers also venture into the field to gather data. With support from NASA’s Terrestrial Ecology Program, ABoVE researchers investigate questions about the role of climate in wildfires, thawing permafrost, wildlife migration habits, insect outbreaks, and more.
Participants include:
- Dr. Peter Griffith, Principal Investigator for the ABoVE Airborne Campaign, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
- Dr. Elizabeth Hoy, Co-Investigator for the ABoVE Airborne Campaign, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Media interested in interviewing mission members in person in Fairbanks, Alaska, must request access by 2 p.m. Alaska Time (6 p.m. EDT) Wednesday, Aug. 24. Interested media should send their full name, media affiliation, email address, and phone number to Sofie Bates at 209-648-9060. For NASA’s media accreditation policy, please visit:
For more information on ABoVE, visit:
Robert Garner
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-5687
rob.garner@nasa.gov