ATB | Small Particles, Big Questions: ERB Stratospheric Aerosol Science at NOAA
- Date:
- Thursday, January 15, 2026
- Time:
- 11:00am - 12:00pm Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Online:
- This is an online event. Event URL will be sent via registration email.
- Audience:
- All Department of Commerce Staff
ATB | Small Particles, Big Questions: ERB Stratospheric Aerosol Science at NOAA Online
Join us for a presentation by the NOAA Earth’s Radiation Budget (ERB) Program featuring Troy Thornberry, Lead Research Scientist at NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory.
The ERB Program is a multi-year research initiative launched in 2020 at the direction of Congress. Its mission is to better understand how natural processes and human activities alter the way Earth reflects sunlight. A specific focus of the program is improved understanding of the roles that aerosols play in the planet's energy balance.
The Balloon Baseline Stratospheric Aerosol Profiles (B2SAP) project utilizes lightweight aerosol instruments developed by NOAA CSL that are deployed with NOAA GML H2O and O3 instruments using small weather balloons from a number of sites around the globe to systematically measure the number and size distribution of stratospheric aerosol to altitudes over 90,000 feet. The goal of the B2SAP project is to establish a baseline climatology—a record of the natural background state and its variability—of stratospheric aerosol. The data collected by B2SAP helps scientists understand how the stratosphere responds to natural perturbations, such as volcanic eruptions and wildfire smoke plumes, and provides a means for identifying impacts from anthropogenic activities, including possible intentional aerosol injection. This long-term dataset is also critical for validating satellite retrievals and refining global climate models.
The Stratospheric Aerosol processes, Budget, and Radiative Effects (SABRE) project is a multi-deployment airborne science mission conducting detailed measurements of the stratosphere and stratospheric aerosol processes. The project utilizes NASA's WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft carrying more than 15 sophisticated scientific instruments that measure aerosol properties and composition, long-lived and reactive trace gases, and atmospheric state parameters. SABRE in situ measurements provide a comprehensive dataset for investigating stratospheric processes that regulate the formation, transport, chemistry, and radiative properties of stratospheric aerosols. Results from the first SABRE science deployment to Alaska in 2023 include the discovery of ablated satellite and rocket metals in stratospheric aerosol, new measurements of ultrafine aerosols that are invisible to satellites, and unprecedented detail into how aerosol composition affects stratospheric ozone chemistry.
About Dr. Thornberry: Troy is a scientist in the NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. He started working at NOAA (then the Aeronomy Lab) in 2003 as a Cooperative Institute research scientist and joined the federal staff in 2020. His work focuses on atmospheric chemistry–climate system processes and feedbacks using stratospheric measurements of trace gases and aerosols. His educational background includes a B.A. in Physics from Lawrence University, an M.S. in Environmental Science and Engineering from the University of Iowa, a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Michigan and postdoctoral work at the University of Toronto. His past research has ranged from studying the chemistry of regional ozone pollution to laboratory experiments on the kinetics of heterogeneous reactions to the development of new instruments and techniques for measurement of atmospheric aerosols and trace gases and the remote sensing of wildfires. Troy is a veteran of numerous major airborne science field campaigns as both a measurement and mission scientist. Presently he is the lead scientist on the NOAA ERB SABRE and B2SAP projects.
About Around the Bureaus: This series showcases the diverse work of Department of Commerce employees, breaks down silos, and encourages cross-bureau collaboration. If you would like to participate in a future presentation, please reach out to the library for more information.
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