UA Research Airplane Flying in Illinois Sky in Climate Change Study

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Understanding the role of crops on the carbon and water cycles is a critical component of global climate change research as water and carbon dioxide are major components in greenhouse gas production. For years, a variety of research aimed at understanding aspects of global climate change has been performed within the corn and soybean fields of Champaign County Illinois.

For the summer of 2006, the research has expanded, and during the last week of July/beginning of August scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Boston University, Utah State University, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham will join with their colleagues from The University of Alabama, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Air Resources Laboratory, the University of Illinois and the Illinois State Water Survey.

These researchers will be observing how carbon dioxide and water are transferred between the air and the ground. They will use a variety of tools, including one that utilizes molecular processes within a leaf to satellite images of the entire Midwestern Corn Belt. Researchers will use molecular biological techniques, meteorological towers and instruments, specialized aircraft and imaging systems, and satellite imagery to evaluate these processes that influence global climate change.

As part of this research program, The University of Alabama’s research airplane will be flying over the fields of Illinois. The research focuses on the carbon cycle and how large areas of crops influence carbon exchange.

The University of Alabama established the Atmospheric and Environmental Research Operations Laboratory, known as AERO, in October 2004, and this is the one of the major research partnership studies in the U.S. being conducted through UA’s AERO Program.