This came to my attention today.
Once I got over the "Wow, what is that?" reaction I had to the photo, (Thank you, Major Kong, for the aircraft ID!) found in a Twitter stream, I read the accompanying 140-character reference.
Which brings me to sharing that airplane picture with you above, and then telling you why I think you should care. That's not just a hurricane hunter.
Vast regions west of the Mississippi River are under development for oil and gas extraction, and the associated equipment has become a familiar sight on any cross-country road trip or flight. But while one focus is on what comes out of the ground, NOAA and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) researchers and their colleagues are studying what escapes to the air—and how it is transformed in the atmosphere and affects air quality and climate. The scientists are using a suite of state-of-the-art chemical instruments aboard a research aircraft this spring in the NOAA-led Shale Oil and Natural Gas Nexus (SONGNEX 2015) field campaign, to study the atmospheric effects of energy production in the western U.S.
That airplane is, as the kids today say,
doing a science. A big one and an important one and one that could change our nation, if not the world.
Given what P-3 Orions are famous for, this aircraft's science is almost as unique as is the particular plane.
There are lots of Orions around.
But there are very very few WP-3 Orions. Matter of fact, there are two.
Here's a thumbnail profile of them:
Lockheed WP-3D Orion
The Lockheed WP-3D Orion is a highly modified P-3 Orion used by the Aircraft Operations Center division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Wikipedia
Top speed: 466 mph (750 km/h)
Range: 4,373 miles (7,038 km)
Wingspan: 100' (30 m)
Weight: 73,000 lbs (33,110 kg)
Length: 117' (36 m)
Engine type: Allison T56
Manufacturer: Lockheed Corporation
While I'm not about to attempt to compete with Major Kong's incomparable series of biographies of outstanding aircraft, the science behind this picture is well worth sharing in a reality-based community, I think.
I wanted to share this story with y'all because ... science is good, (not to mention that airplane -- just look at it! and look what it's done, over its service life!) and this science is especially good as it furthers our knowledge of what happens with certain kinds of oil recovery or gas production known as fracking. Because the more facts we can measure and record, the better we can make our arguments when it comes to stopping the practice.