BROOMFIELD, Colo — The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is celebrating the completed reconstruction of a major research facility in Colorado that supports airborne science projects across the globe.
Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the new $25 million Broomfield building replaces one that was more than half a century old.
Scientists working on aviation field campaigns will go from make-shift workspaces with folding tables in a hanger, to state of the art on-site laboratories.
The 42,931-square-foot building at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport houses about three dozen permanent staff including scientists, engineers, instrument technicians and flight operations experts. There is additional space for visiting scientists.
A command center, nine laboratories and 51 workspaces will help scientists support ongoing missions and analyze data as it comes in from the planes.
The new research facility is home to two research aircraft owned by NSF and operated by NCAR: a Gulfstream V and a C-130.
Field projects involving NCAR aviation
- 2011 - Ice in Clouds Experiment (ICE)
- 2012 - Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry Project (DC3)
- 2013 - Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Éxperiment (FRAPPÉ)
- 2013 - Mesoscale Predictability Experiment (MPEX)
- 2014 - Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment over New Zealand (DEEPWAVE)
- 2015 - Wintertime Investigation of Transport, Emissions, and Reactivity (WINTER)
- 2016 - O2/N2 Ratio and CO2 Airborne Southern Ocean (ORCAS)
- 2018 - Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry (WE-CAN)
- 2019 - Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC)
- 2021 - Airborne Stabilized Platform for Infrared Experiments (ASPIRE)
- 2022 - Asian Summer Monsoon Chemical and CLimate Impact Project (ACCLIP)
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