Atmospheric research by a team of UC Davis scientists received a helping hand from this month's mission of the space shuttle Endeavor. The shuttle carried radar equipment that scanned the Earth, recording data that will help researchers such as biometeorologist Kyaw Tha Paw U better understand Earth's weather and atmospheric conditions. "Our research team is looking at the details of how the exchanges of carbon dioxide, water vapor and heat between plants and the atmosphere are very closely related," says Paw U, a professor of atmospheric science. "As a result of the data provided by the shuttle, we may find that this process -- which has significant impact on global warming -- should be described in a different way." Two graduate students braved the spring snows of Maine to take atmospheric measurements at one of the shuttle's primary monitoring sites. The UC Davis research team will correlate these measurements with data captured by the shuttle's radar system in order to develop a computerized model describing the exchange of gases and heat that occurs between plants and the atmosphere.