— As of September 25, 2016, CARVE is no longer a funded EVS-1 project bringing the 5 year mission to a completion. CARVE information and data are now available from the ORNL DAAC and will no longer be available from this portal.
The carbon budget of Arctic ecosystems is not known with confidence since fundamental
elements of the complex Arctic biological-climatologic-hydrologic system are poorly
quantified. CARVE will collect detailed measurements of important greenhouse gases
on local to regional scales in the Alaskan Arctic and demonstrate new remote sensing
and improved modeling capabilities to quantify Arctic carbon fluxes and carbon
cycle-climate processes. Ultimately, CARVE will provide an integrated set of data that
will provide unprecedented experimental insights into Arctic carbon cycling.
CARVE will use the Arctic-proven C-23 Sherpa
aircraft to fly an innovative airborne remote sensing payload. It includes an infrared
camera and a nadir-viewing spectrometer to deliver the first simultaneous
measurements of surface parameters that control gas emissions (i.e., soil moisture,
freeze/thaw state, surface temperature) and total atmospheric columns of carbon dioxide,
methane, and carbon monoxide. The aircraft payload also includes a gas analyzer that
links greenhouse gas measurements directly to World Meteorological Organization standards.
Deployments will occur during the spring, summer and early fall when Arctic carbon
fluxes are large and change rapidly. Further, at these times, the sensitivities of
ecosystems to external forces such as fire and anomalous variability of temperature and
precipitation are maximized. Continuous ground-based measurements provide temporal and
regional context as well as calibration for CARVE airborne measurements.
CARVE science fills a critical gap in Earth science knowledge and satisfies
high priority objectives across NASA’s Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems, Atmospheric
Composition, and Climate Variability & Change focus areas as well as the Air
Quality and Ecosystems elements of the Applied Sciences program. CARVE
complements and enhances the science return from current NASA and non-NASA
satellite sensors.