About the HAWC mission
- Mission status: In development
- Launch:
- Mission duration: 3 years with possibility to extend
HAWC (High-altitude Aerosols, Water vapour and Clouds) is a Canadian satellite mission designed to improve our understanding of how clouds, water vapour, and tiny particles known as aerosols influence Earth's weather and climate. These elements play a major role in how our atmosphere behaves, but many questions remain, especially in the rapidly changing Arctic.
HAWC will help fill those knowledge gaps by providing new, detailed observations from space. The mission will provide critical data to improve severe and extreme weather prediction, climate modelling, air quality forecasting, and the monitoring of events like volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and extreme precipitation.
HAWC will include three advanced instruments and a satellite.
Why study aerosols, water vapour, and clouds?
Aerosols, water vapour, and clouds are key factors in Earth's climate system. These elements affect weather patterns and climate change in different ways.
- Aerosols are tiny particles or droplets in the air, like dust or wildfire smoke. Some reflect sunlight and help cool the planet, while others, like black carbon (soot), absorb heat and contribute to warming. Their impact depends on their size, type, and how they interact with clouds and other parts of the atmosphere.
- Water vapour is the most important greenhouse gas. It traps heat in the atmosphere and can form clouds, which either cool or warm the planet. As the planet warms, more water vapour enters the atmosphere, which can make the warming even stronger.
- Clouds, made of tiny water droplets or ice crystals, play a big role in shaping our climate. Some reflect sunlight and help cool the planet, while others trap heat and contribute to warming. The type, number, and height of clouds all affect how much heat is reflected or held in, making them an important part of how our climate is changing.
Together, aerosols, water vapour, and clouds form a complex system that influences Earth's temperature balance. Understanding how they interact helps scientists predict climate change and improve weather forecasts.
HAWC is a Canadian mission expected to help Canadians better anticipate and prepare for extreme weather events including storms, floods, droughts and poor air quality conditions. (Credit: Canadian Space Agency)
Better climate projection for Canadians
HAWC will collect valuable data that will help Canadians better anticipate and respond to the effects of climate change. Its benefits include:
Supporting extreme weather preparedness
- Improve forecasting of storms, floods, droughts, and poor air quality
- Help communities prepare for and reduce the impacts of severe weather events
Advancing Arctic monitoring
- As a polar orbiting mission, HAWC will deliver insights into Arctic atmospheric conditions
- Improve understanding of how Arctic changes affect weather and climate across Canada
Strengthening collaboration and resilience
- Better predictions will support scientists, governments, and industry in adapting to a changing climate
- Help protect the health of Canadians and strengthen the resilience of our communities
Informing climate adaptation
- Provide critical information to project the impacts of climate change
- Support wildlife and habitat management by improving our understanding of how climate change is affecting sensitive northern and coastal environments
- Help northern and coastal communities develop and maintain resilient infrastructure
Made-in-Canada science and technology
Technology
For this mission, Canada is developing three advanced instruments. The Canadian Space Agency funds the research and development carried out by Canadian universities, followed by the development, construction, and launch by the private sector:
- University of Saskatchewan: The Aerosol Limb Imager (ALI) will study aerosols in the atmosphere from the surface to high altitudes. It will help scientists understand their size, quantity, and how they influence clouds, sunlight, and climate change.
- University of Saskatchewan: The Spatial Heterodyne Observations of Water (SHOW) instrument will measure water vapour between approximately 8 and 20 km from the ground.
- Université du Québec à Montréal: Thin Ice Clouds and Far InfraRed Emissions (TICFIRE) will observe ice clouds and water vapour. It will also measure the amount of heat escaping Earth's atmosphere into space – something never done before.
The TICFIRE, ALI, and SHOW instruments will work together to create a unique 3D “data cube” of the atmosphere. By combining their measurements, scientists will gain a detailed, three-dimensional view of how aerosols, clouds, and water vapour interact and how these interactions shape weather and climate.
Science
The HAWC science consortium includes scientists from 14 universities across Canada. They are working together to study the data that will be collected by HAWC. This data will be freely available to scientists, students, developers, and the public. Open access to this information will spark new discoveries, support innovative research, and help drive new ideas to better manage the risks of a changing climate.
The Canadian university collaborators are:
- University of Saskatchewan
- Université du Québec à Montréal
- University of Toronto
- McGill University
- University of New Brunswick
- Université de Sherbrooke
- University of Waterloo
- Wilfrid Laurier University
- St. Francis Xavier University
- Saint Mary's University
- University of Victoria
- Western University
- Dalhousie University
- York University
In addition, the National Research Council of Canada will fly special research aircraft in the Arctic to validate and improve the accuracy of HAWC's data.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) will use the data from the HAWC mission to improve weather forecasts, public warnings, and climate change research. In turn, this will support science-based decision-making by governments, communities, and industry. ECCC scientists will also contribute to the aircraft measurements campaign in the Arctic by providing instruments on the ground.