Investigating the ozone hole, Amazon fires and gravity waves with the German HALO research aircraft

• Scientists from DLR, KIT, Forschungszentrum Jülich and the universities of Mainz and Frankfurt are coordinating the measurement campaign.
• The influence of gravity waves on polar vortices over Antarctica, and chemical and dynamic processes in the tropopause region are being analysed.
• Focus: Aeronautics, climate change

The German High Altitude and Long Range (HALO) research aircraft will be exploring the atmosphere in the southern hemisphere and its impact on climate change during September and November 2019 as part of the SOUTHTRAC (Transport and Composition of the Southern Hemisphere UTLS) mission. The main objective of the first phase of the campaign is to investigate gravity waves at the southern tip of South America and over Antarctica. In the second phase of the campaign, in November, the scientific focus of the investigations will shift to the exchange of air masses between the stratosphere and troposphere. During the transfer flights between Europe and South America, the researchers will investigate how current burning of biomass in the Amazon rainforest is affecting the climate, among other things. Scientists from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) and the universities of Mainz and Frankfurt will coordinate the extensive research flights.

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