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Program Management
The PEM-Tropics B will be a research project within the
NASA Global Tropospheric Experiment, managed and funded
through the Tropospheric Chemistry Program in the Office for
Mission to Planet Earth (OMTPE). The Program Manager for the
Tropospheric Chemistry Program will serve as the PEM-Tropics B
Program Manager providing oversight to ensure that the
research activities of PEM-Tropics B are in concert with the
objectives of the OMTPE. The Program Manager will be the point
of contact for coordinating the research activities of
PEM-Tropics B with other collaborating U.S. and foreign
agencies. The Program Manager will be an ex officio
member of the PEM-Tropics B Science Team.
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Project Management
The PEM-Tropics B project activities will be managed by the
GTE Project Office at NASA's Langley Research Center (LARC).
The GTE Project manager will be responsible for the overall
management and coordination of resources provided to meet the
scientific objectives of the PEM-Tropics B mission. These
responsibilities will include (a) interaction with the
Tropospheric Chemistry Program management and the management
of other collaborating agencies and science teams; (b) overall
direction of project planning, schedules, and field
operations; (c) providing for the timely transmittal of all
data collected by the project into a public archive at LARC;
and (d) acquisition and reporting of base measurements in
support of the mission goals. The Project Manager will be
assisted by the Mission Scientist(s) and Mission
Meteorologist(s) and by a project staff. The Project manager
will be an ex officio member of the PEM-Tropics B
Science Team.
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PEM-Tropics B Science Team
The PEM-Tropics B Science Team will be composed of (1) the
Principal Investigators for experimental proposals approved
for the DC-8 and/or of the P-3B components of the mission, (2)
any ground-based or ship-based principal investigators that
may be selected, and (3) the selected theoretical
investigators. The term of participation on the Science Team
will continue as long as the approved research continues.
The Science Team will be co-chaired by the mission
scientist(s) for the DC-8 and the P-3B components. Individuals
proposing an experimental or theoretical investigation may
also propose to serve as Mission Scientist for either or both
aircraft teams.
The Science Team will determine its own structure and
method for interactions among team members and the DC-8 and
P-3B aircraft operators to achieve overall the mission
objectives and the goals of the GTE PEM-Tropics B mission. The
Science Team and the Project Manager will develop detailed
plans to conduct the PEM-Tropics B mission to meet the
objectives given in this NRA. The Science Team will also be
responsible for establishing a data management and data
protocol plan that will promote the timely publication and
dissemination of scientific results in accordance with data
handling policies of the OMTPE, which generally require that
data from OMTPE projects be made available to the public after
a brief period of exclusive use by science teams for
validation of the data. A period of approximately six months
for this purpose is envisioned for the PEM-Tropics B mission.
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National and International Cooperation
The PEM-Tropics B project will welcome international
participation in all of its field studies, coordinated through
the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) project,
a core project of the International Geosphere Biosphere
Program (IGBP). Foreign participation or collaboration will be
on a cooperative (no exchange of funds) basis only.
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Logistical Support Provided by NASA
During the field deployment of PEM-Tropics B the GTE
Project Office will provide the logistical arrangements and
the cost for shipping investigator equipment to and from the
investigator's laboratory and the aircraft integration site,
and to and from the investigator's laboratory and the
intensive field deployment sites. For the P-3B aircraft the
intensive sites include Christmas Island and Tahiti. For the
DC-8 the intensive sites include Hawaii, Tahiti, and Fiji.
Advanced shipments, of items such as compressed gases to each
of the intensive sites will be via surface
transportation. Because of the limited weight and space
capacity of the P-3B, air shipments of the P-3B supporting
equipment to Christmas and Tahiti will be provided by the GTE
Project Office. No air shipments are planned as support for
the DC-8 operations.
The Project Office will also obtain hotel accommodations at
each deployment site, and meeting rooms and field laboratory
facilities as required at each intensive deployment site. The
Project Office will also make arrangements for such general
items as liquid nitrogen and dry ice.
Travel costs associated with participation of the non-NASA
U.S. Principal Investigators in planning meetings will be
provided through the GTE Project Office. Travel costs directly
attributed to the field deployment of PEM-Tropics B will also
be provided through the GTE Project Office for non-NASA U.S.
participants. Travel costs for NASA employees are covered
separately. Shipping costs for all investigations will be
covered through the GTE Project Office.
Foreign investigators must bear their own costs for all
travel and shipping.
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Data Products/Archive
The Project Office will serve as a central repository and
distribution center for all data products obtained in the
PEM-Tropics B mission. Aboard each aircraft the Project
Office, in conjunction with the respective aircraft facility
coordinators, will provide a set of standard parameters
including ambient temperature, dew point temperature, winds,
and aircraft position (see Table 1,
Scientific Objectives). The
Project Office will provide a data system aboard each
aircraft, which will facilitate distribution of these data
aboard the aircraft in real time and post fight. The project
data system will also offer the capability of recording and
displaying selected information from investigators aboard the
respective aircraft.
The Project Office will also maintain a mission data archive
for distribution among the science team. The mission archive
will consist of all data acquired apart of the PEM-Tropics B
mission. Each investigator will be responsible for submitting
preliminary field results to the Project Office for
distribution to the Science Team during the mission. Final
validated results from the mission must be submitted to the
Project Office approximately 6 months after completion of the
field deployment phase. The project office will be responsible
for submitting the PEM-Tropics B data archive to the Langley
Distributed Active Archive Center, which will be the
repository for all of the mission data.
The Project Office, with the Mission Meteorologist, will
provide for the acquisition and distribution to the science
team meteorological data supporting the mission objectives.
These data will include meteorological products for flight
planning and post mission products to support analysis and
publication of results.