The main objective of DCOTSS is to investigate the impacts of intense thunderstorms over the U.S. on the summertime stratosphere.
During the summer, strong convective storms over North America overshoot the tropopause into the lower stratosphere. These storms carry water and pollutants from the troposphere into the normally very dry stratosphere, where they can have a significant impact on radiative and chemical processes, potentially including stratospheric ozone...
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View of an overshooting convective storm from the International Space Station
DCOTSS will use the NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft, and the campaign consists of a 5-week test flight series and three, 8-week science deployments out of Salina, KS in each of three periods (spring, middle summer, late summer). Each science deployment will consist of 10 to 12 science flights.
