Costa Rica Aura Validation Experiment (AVE) Winter 2006
The Costa Rica Aura Validation Experiment (CR-AVE) is the third in a series of similar NASA-led science missions to acquire high quality measurements of the tropical atmosphere to validate data from NASAs Aura satellite, launched July 15, 2004.

Such experiments allow scientists to directly measure the transport of gases and tiny particles called aerosols in the lower atmosphere (or troposphere) and their exchange with the lower stratosphere. This data is then compared with that from Aura to enable improved modeling of global-scale air quality and climate change predictions.

Utilizing research balloons and the NASA WB-57F high-altitude aircraft, CR-AVE will collect considerable data on the largely under-sampled tropical tropopause layer (TTL). The TTL is the region of the tropical atmosphere that lies between the top of the main cumulus outflow layer (~12 km or 7.5 miles) and the thermal tropopause (~16 km or approx. 10 miles) and plays a crucial role in the "dehydration" of air entering the stratosphere.

The mission will include flights from near the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, to Costa Rica. The WB-57F will be loaded with a suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments to collect information on ozone and ozone-destroying radicals, aerosols, and cloud physical properties.

CR-AVE will also gather data on a variety of atmospheric constituents, including ozone, water vapor and methane in the upper troposphere. These are important "greenhouse gases that affect global temperature. Aerosols, like dust and smoke, work to absorb or reflect radiation and also play a significant role in both global air quality and the regulation of the Earths climate.