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When: 30 July - 24 September 2026
Where: Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, USA and Panama Pacifico Airport, Panama City, Panama
How: NASA WB-57 Payload
The NOAA SABRE project studies the formation, transport, chemistry, and radiative properties of stratospheric aerosols by measuring their size, composition, and relevant short- and long-lived trace gases. Following the SABRE 2023 Arctic deployment to Alaska to study the wintertime Arctic stratosphere, the SABRE Tropics mission focuses on the complex aerosol processes that occur in the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL) – the dominant pathway for transport of air from the troposphere into the stratosphere. A key focus is determining if new particle formation, frequently observed in the tropical upper troposphere, extends to higher altitudes where the particles formed will eventually enter the stratosphere.
Operating out of Panama Pacifico Airport, Panama (9°N), the mission leverages the region's location and geography to allow sampling of diverse tropical air masses. With a 1,000-nautical-mile operational radius, the NASA WB-57 aircraft can fly as far south as 8°S to study interhemispheric gradients. The location also provides access to outflow from deep continental convection over South and Central America, extensive maritime convection, long-range transport from the Asian and African monsoons, and convectively lofted sulfur dioxide from volcanoes in the region.
Supported by approximately 50 personnel, the SABRE Tropics deployment operated at a tempo of three to four flights per week. Flying between 13 and 19 kilometers (40,000 to 62,000 ft), the NASA WB-57 carried over 17 scientific instruments to measure aerosol properties, trace gases, and other atmospheric parameters. Science flights included four initial research flights from Houston, Texas to sample the mid-latitude stratosphere, transit flights to and from Panama and 14 local science flights from Panama investigating the tropical TTL and lower stratosphere.
View the NOAA CSL flickr album: SABRE Tropics 2026 and the NASA ESPO SABRE Mission Gallery to see photos.
