START-08 Aircraft Operations
With the help of the NSF/NCAR GV, the project will study the chemical and transport characteristics of the extratropical upper tropospheric and lower stratospheric (ExUTLS) region. The objective of the experiment is to use in situ chemical, microphysical, and dynamical measurements, satellite data, and models to better understand the multi-scale dynamical processes that control the chemical composition of the ExUTLS. In particular, the focus is on the behavior of the extratropical tropopause as a transport boundary and on key chemical transport pathways and the related dynamical processes that couple the UT and LS. The main PI of the project is Elliot Atlas from the University of Miami. The project is based out of Broomfield, CO and will have two field phases: 21 April to 16 May and 16 to 28 June, 2008.

The second half of the project is dedicated to the preliminary objectives of the HIPPO project. This set of objectives is also known as "pre-HIPPO". Pre-HIPPO and START projects have been joined because of the similarity in the payload and missions that address the science of both projects. There is no change in the GV payload between the first and second halves of the project.

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