NASA will launch five airborne campaigns in 2015 to gather important global data for climate studies.

The new studies' primary goal is to better understand how wildfires in Africa; warming ocean temperatures and extreme air pollution in China affect the planet's overall climate.

Like Us on Facebook

This climate change project is part of NASA's Earth Venture program. Its US$30 million in funding will cover data analysis and field campaigns over the next five years.

NASA began soliciting Earth Venture projects in 2007 under the guidance of the National Research Council. NASA selected the first five projects in 2010.

These new climate investigations are pivotal in providing clues that may answer how the planet works, said Jack Kaye from NASA's Earth Science division. Using information from airborne data gathering missions will allow NASA to explore different locations. It will also guide the space agency in improving observations of the Earth made by its orbiting satellites.

The five major approved projects include studying atmospheric chemistry and worldwide air pollution; studying changes in biodiversity in warming oceans; investigating greenhouse gas emission sources; studying Atlantic cloud formations caused by wildfires from Africa and studying the melting glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland.

NASA, U.S. government agencies, 25 educational institutions and two industry partners are involved in these Earth Venture projects.

The aim of Earth Venture is to understand how climate change works so scientists and researchers can find ways to reduce the harmful effects of increasing global temperatures on the environment.

TagsNASA Launches Airborne Campaigns to Fight Climate Change, NASA, global warming, NASA airborne campaigns climate change