HALO research aircraft to analyze the transport of greenhouses gases and aerosols over the Pacific
The extreme precipitation that occurs during the Asiatic monsoon season repeatedly causes catastrophic devastation in Southeast Asia. The same weather systems which cause these extreme events also affect the altitude region of 12 to 20 kilometers. Strong convection transports partly heavily polluted air masses from the ground-level atmosphere in Southeast Asia into this altitude region, the so-called upper troposphere/lower stratosphere, and from the northern Pacific subsequently to Europe. This transport will be investigated over the next two months by a team of atmospheric researchers during the PHILEAS (Probing High Latitude Export of Air from the Asian Summer Monsoon) mission. Forschungszentrum Jülich and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) are coordinating the campaign. Airborne measurement flights using the high altitude HALO aircraft, which can reach flight altitudes of up to 15 kilometers, will be taking off from Oberpfaffenhofen in Bavaria starting on Sunday and from Anchorage in Alaska in about two weeks.
One key objective of the two-month campaign is to obtain insight into the transport and mixing processes that occur in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere influencing the global climate and weather. A second focus will be on the severe wildfires in Canada. „The information we collect will allow us to look at the long-range transport of contaminants from the monsoon regions. Furthermore, we will concentrate on the impact of the disastrous forest fires in Canada and their consequences for the stratosphere. The heat of the fires can result in powerful convection currents that bring aerosols and pollutants to elevations of 12 kilometers or more. The innovative payload configuration used for PHILEAS provides us with the opportunity to investigate the effects and development of the smoke plumes on the corresponding composition and their impact on the environment,“ explained Professor Peter Hoor, head of the Airborne Measurements group at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at Mainz University. The PHILEAS data are also a central element for transport and aerosol studies within CRC TRR-301 „TPChange“, which is headed by the Professor Peter Hoor at Mainz University.
