An Overview of The North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES)

We present an overview of the NASA North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) mission concept, which is the first NASA Earth Venture - Suborbital mission focused on studying the coupled ocean ecosystem and atmosphere. NAAMES utilizes a combination of ship-based, airborne, autonomous sensor, and remote sensing measurements that directly link ocean ecosystem processes, emissions of ocean-generated aerosols and precursor gases, and subsequent atmospheric evolution and processing. Four deployments coincide with the seasonal cycle of phytoplankton in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Winter Transition (November 5 - December 2, 2015), the Bloom Climax (May 11 - June 5, 2016), the Deceleration Phase (August 30 - September 24, 2017), and the Acceleration Phase (March 20 - April 13, 2018). Additional information about the NAAMES project can be found at https://naames.larc.nasa.gov/, and all data are freely and publicly available in the NAAMES field data archive (https://www-air.larc.nasa.gov/missions/naames/index.html). This presentation highlights the NAAMES science objectives, instrumentation, and ship and aircraft cruise and flight tracks contextualized against satellite observations of the oceanic and atmospheric state during each of the four campaigns.