Even if the path they follow is optimal (and the only way to find out is to
measure all possible paths), they can not be said to have come up with a general algorithm, a task so complex that it belongs in a class of virtually unsolvable problems called NP - hard.
Using the ARM Aerial Facility's (AAF) Gulfstream - 159 (G - 1) research aircraft, the team will fly three
possible flight
paths between Prudhoe Bay, Oliktok Point, Barrow, Atqasuk, Ivotuk, and Toolik Lake
measuring carbon dioxide, methane, and carbon monoxide — also known as trace gases — using two different types of gas analyzers and collecting air samples of trace gases with a 12 - flask sampler.