BBC Announces Cloud Lab – an Airship crossing the United States for Scientific Research

Skyship 600 at Floyd Bennett Field Brooklyn NYSources: bbc.co.uk, jimmcquaid.wordpress.com, ozreport.com

BBC Two and BBC Four Controller Janice Hadlow announced a scientific mission across the United States.

A team of scientists will be taking to the skies in the world’s largest airship – the Skyship 600 – for BBC Two’s ambitious atmospheric experiment – Cloud Lab. Flying from coast to coast, across the USA, in a month-long expedition, the team of British scientists will scrutinize insect life, the relationship between trees and the air we breathe as well as predicting where a hurricane is likely to hit the land.

The team, which includes entomologists, weather specialists and professional explorers is also hoping to shed light on the creation of clouds and the relationship between diverse ecosystems and weather.

Several US agencies will be cooperating with this project. Among them are NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Agency), JPL (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and USGS (United States Geological Survey).

Skyship 600 at Floyd Bennett Field Brooklyn NYCloud Lab will be accompanied by a number of films on BBC Four, including An Ocean of Air which sets out to show who rightly deserves the title of ‘the true discoverer of oxygen’. Using reconstructions, archive and experiments, chemist Gabrielle Walker will trace the remarkable and personal journeys of three leading contenders before making her choice as to who deserves the accolade.

The BBC team will fly the Skyship 600 airship over a four week period from Florida to California to carry out their research. Travelling west their route will take them over some stunning and diverse landscapes: oceans, wetlands, forests, drylands and deserts with a smattering of cities along the way

Sources: bbc.co.uk, jimmcquaid.wordpress.com, ozreport.com

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