Mission Overview Overview

CARVE or Carbon Arctic Reservoir Vulnerability Experiment, is a an innovative investigation employing a robust and flexible strategy to reconcile Arctic carbon fluxes estimated from atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and CH4 measured with an absorption spectrometer and in-situ techniques (top-down approach) with carbon fluxes estimated from coincident measurements of surface state controls with a microwave instrument (bottom-up approach).

The CARVE Science Investigation entails intensive seasonal deployments in Alaska during the spring, summer, and fall of each year from 2012–2014. CARVE flight plans sample multiple permafrost domains and ecosystems, and deliver detailed measurements over ground-based measurement sites, fires, and burn-recovery chronosequences. The deployment plans are robust and resilient, providing large schedule margins against poor weather and the flexibility to exploit unusual findings or geophysical conditions. There are no required time-critical events.