RELEASE: 00-101

NASA's Terra spacecraft and ER-2 high-altitude aircraft made their first synchronized scientific observations over Southern Africa today as part of the six-week Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000) to study the region's ecosystems, air quality and land use.

The target on this first "stacked" flight was the haze in the atmosphere, specifically the gas carbon monoxide, which is a major component of air pollution.

In addition to the NASA satellite and aircraft, a South African Weather Bureau Aerocommander 690A aircraft took part in today's coordinated air sampling by flying intricate spiral descents through the haze to directly capture air samples that will be analyzed in the laboratory. It is one of two SAWB planes dedicated to the SAFARI 2000 experiment.

"We're excited about the opportunity to fly with NASA's ER-2 for the first time in this campaign," said Bob Swap, principal investigator of the SAWB plane that flew today. "We're hoping that the information gathered from this flight will be valuable for the global observations of the atmosphere that the MOPITT instrument on Terra will make in the coming years." Instruments on the SAWB plane can also sample ozone, sulfur dioxide, and small particles in the air. MOPITT stands for Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere, which is a Canadian instrument flying on the new Terra spacecraft.

The track of the Terra spacecraft today was along the eastern African coast just off Maputo over the Indian Ocean. The planes sampled the air along the satellite's path and then returned inland to sample the hazy air over South Africa. The track included flights over Inhaca Island, Mozambique, where scientific instruments looked at solar radiation transmitted through the atmosphere to the ground, which tells scientists about the tiny particles in the air that contribute to haze.

The NASA and SAWB planes were joined by the University of Washington CV-580 airplane today, all of which flew over South African sites to sample haze conditions in different parts of the country. The ER-2 also flew directly over a ground station at Skukuza, in Kruger National Park.

SAFARI 2000, with its headquarters in Petersburg, brings together over 100 African, American and international scientists. Dr. Ben Ngubane, Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology launched the campaign on 12 August. "We need to understand the sustainability of the region's sensitive and pressured ecosystems," said Professor Harold Annegarn, Head of the Atmosphere and Energy Research Group at the University of the Witwatersrand. "SAFARI 2000 is the most comprehensive study ever conducted of the continent's land and atmosphere system," Annegarn said. "It's the biggest scientific collaboration experiment ever conducted in Africa involving 14 nations and six South African universities," he added.

Terra, an international mission and part of NASA's Earth Sciences Enterprise, is opening a new window to the Earth and is providing daily information on the health of the planet. Terra is the first satellite to monitor daily -- and on a global scale -- how the Earth's atmosphere, lands, oceans, solar radiation and life influence each other. Terra's wide array of measurements will give a comprehensive evaluation of the Earth as a system and will establish a new basis for long-term monitoring of the Earth's climate changes.

SAFARI 2000 is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a long-term coordinated research effort to study the Earth as a global system and the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment. The goal of the Earth Science Enterprise is to expand knowledge of the Earth system from the unique vantage point of space. Earth Science Enterprise data, which will be distributed to researchers worldwide at the cost of reproduction, are critical to informed environmental decisions.