FarmFlux Announcements WHAT IS FARMFLUX? FarmFlux is an airborne mission to study how gas and particle emissions from U.S. agriculture affect air quality, climate, and ecosystems. The investigation will focus on two key agricultural sectors: crops and animals. FarmFlux is supported by the NASA Earth Venture Suborbital program. U.S. agriculture is a major source of reactive and greenhouse gases. Total soil NOx is an upper limit for agricultural influence (neglecting farm machinery and combustion-related emissions). Data derived from EPA bottom-up inventories [4, 5]. Agriculture is the single largest source of ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) in the U.S. (Cavigelli et al., 2012; EPA, 2017, 2022; Miller et al., 2013; Paulot et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2021), and agricultural soils are an increasingly important source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) (Almaraz et al., 2018; Geddes et al., 2022; Oikawa et al., 2015). NH3 is a major precursor to particulate matter (PM) (Mensah et al., 2012; Sorooshian et al., 2008; Young et al., 2016), and soil NOx emissions are a precursor to tropospheric ozone (O3) (Sha et al., 2021), both of which are criteria pollutants regulated by the EPA (US EPA, 2020a, 2020b). Current estimates attribute over 10,000 deaths per year in the U.S. to agricultural PM (Domingo et al., 2021; Lelieveld et al., 2015; Tschofen et al., 2019). CH4 and N2O are major greenhouse gases, and N2O contributes to destruction of ozone in the stratosphere (Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change, 2023). The emissions, transformations, and loss of these and other agricultural pollutants thus significantly impact our atmosphere and our lives. The agricultural economy is also sensitive to air quality and climate. For example, near-surface ozone can damage crops, leading to billions of dollars per year in yield loss (Ainsworth et al., 2012; Emberson, 2020; Hong et al., 2020; McGrath et al., 2015; WMO, 2023). Farm workers are especially susceptible to adverse health effects from agricultural emissions (Chatzi et al., 2005; Gainet et al., 2007). Food security is central to our prosperity, as is the health and well being of our communities and the planet. To develop effective and equitable agricultural and environmental policy, we must understand the coupling of the agricultural and atmospheric systems. Current observations at the agriculture-atmosphere interface are sparse and not sufficient to properly evaluate emission inventories or improve predictions of future impacts. In particular, we have an incomplete grasp of how processes will respond to different farming management practices and changing weather patterns. WHAT WILL FARMFLUX MEASURE? FarmFlux will deploy two aircraft to characterize relevant processes over crops and animal feeding operations. A heavy-lift aircraft equipped with in situ gas and particle instrumentation will survey major U.S. crop systems. Airborne eddy covariance will directly quantify emissions and deposition of trace gases. Observations of aerosol chemical, physical, and optical properties will elucidate the sources and impacts of PM. A key strategy of FarmFlux is the simultaneous measurement of multiple variables. This dataset will reveal the coupling between key processes and allow us to map the atmospheric lifecycle of agricultural emissions. A small aircraft will quantify emissions from animal feeding operations and trace their near-source evolution. Flights will focus on beef cattle, dairies, hogs, and chickens. By connecting variability in emission rates with on-the-ground management practices and environmental conditions, FarmFlux will lay the groundwork for improved emission parameterizations. Observations from FarmFlux will provide unprecedented opportunities to evaluate model treatments of agricultural pollutant sources and fate, constrain agricultural emission inventories, and refine flux parameterization schemes. Multiscale modeling and synthesis with detailed surface information will illuminate the path from agricultural practices to impacts on air quality, climate, and ecosystems. WHERE AND WHEN WILL FARMFLUX OCCUR? Agricultural activities are most intense in the Midwest and the California Central Valley. The large aircraft will operate in both regions during several month-long deployments spanning the length of a single growing season (March – July). The small aircraft will travel to emission hotspots in CA, ID, TX, CO, and IA in multiple seasons. Flights will begin no earlier than summer 2026. FarmFlux targets core U.S. agricultural emissions, including data-poor regions. Background shows oversampled NH3 columns from the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) [29]. Black/blue stars and circles show deployment locations and rough ranges for the large and small aircraft, respectively. Triangles and circles denote Ammonia Monitoring Network (AMoN) and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) locations. HOW CAN YOU CONTRIBUTE TO FARMFLUX? A future whitepaper will describe FarmFlux in detail. When a draft is available (circa Fall 2024), we will post it to this site with a request for community feedback. A NASA ROSES call for proposals to join the science team is anticipated in early 2025. To succeed, FarmFlux will need a diverse and cohesive team of instrument scientists, modelers, and agricultural experts. We also encourage collaboration through complementary ground-based and airborne efforts. A multi-partner, multi-scale approach is needed to fully characterize the connections between agriculture and atmospheric composition. WHY NASA? NASA’s Earth Science Division explores the connections between Earth systems and provides trusted information that can support applications and decisions. Agriculture lies at the nexus of multiple systems: atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and human society. NASA data is widely used for both air quality and agricultural management. FarmFlux observations will bridge these disciplines. FarmFlux will also enhance the science achievable from current and upcoming satellite missions, such as TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) and CrIS (Cross-track Infrared Sounder). Observations from FarmFlux will validate satellite retrievals and provide ground truth for inferred emission rates. 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