Remote sensing: students use Sun photometers to assist scientists in validating atmospheric data for the PICASSO-CENA mission

The PICASSO-CENA mission, formally known as Pathfinder Instruments for Cloud and Aerosol Spaceborne Observations-Climatologie Etendue des Nuages et des Aerosols, is a cooperative effort led by NASA Langley Research Center and includes the French Space Agency CNES, Hampton University, Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, and the French Institut Pierre Simon Laplace. PICASSO-CENA will add critical new measurement capabilities to satellite systems planned for NASA's Earth Observing System. Hampton University, a Historically Black College/University (HBCU), will lead the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) component of the PICASSOCENA mission. The K-12 program will include students in the United States and France. They will be involved in reporting visual observations of clouds and aerosol haze conditions and in collecting Sun photometer measurements of column optical depth from the ground level. The research technology used by the PICASSO-CENA mission will be modeled to lead an outreach effort in Earth science.