Even before the newest AO facility is complete, students and scientists are already hard at work on the relevant science projects. The Culebra Aerosol Research Lidar (CARLA) facility, which began construction in March of 2020, will be used to track aerosols in the atmosphere. Of particular importance is the study of the Saharan dust in the air, which affects air quality and hurricane formation in the Atlantic and Greater Caribbean region. June 2020 saw a uniquely strong dust plume event, causing noticeably dimmer skies as far west as Texas. + Read More

The first colloquium of 2020 was held on January 21st and featured a talk describing the Unsolved Problems in Plasmaspheric Physics from Dr. Michael Denton, Research Scientist with the Space Science Institute at Los Alamos in New Mexico. Read More