HALO

CoMet 2.0 Arctic

Research campaign on greenhouse gases in the high latitudes

Mission status: Completed

Persons in Charge

Mission-PI

 Andreas Fix, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Atmospheric Physics (DLR-PA), Oberpfaffenhofen

Mission coordinator​

 Andreas Fix, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Atmospheric Physics (DLR-PA), Oberpfaffenhofen

Contact point at DLR-FX for this mission:

HALO Project Management: Andreas Minikin

Postal address:
DLR Oberpfaffenhofen
Flugexperimente (FX)
Projektmanagement
Münchener Str. 20
82234 Weßling
Germany

Office phone:
+49 (0)8153 28-2538

HALO Deployment Base

Time Period

June – September 2022

Mission phases
  • Jun 22 – Aug 22 || Preparation, Payload integration, EMI testing
  • 06 Aug 22 – 16 Sep 22 || Mission execution
  • 19 Sep 22 – 23 Sep 22 || Dismounting of Payload

Project description

CoMet 2.0 Arctic aims to learn more about the distribution and temporal variation of the two most important anthropogenicallyinfluenced greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in the Arctic. Aircraftbased instruments using both remote sensing and insitu techniques will carry out measurements of these trace gases and tracers related to their emissions. The results will help to better understand the global methane and carbon cycle. This mission makes use of the German research aircraft HALO.

CoMet 2.0 Arctic is the follow-up campaign from CoMet, which took place in 2018. This campaign took place in Europe and targeted compact emission-sources of CO2 and CH4 like coal mines, coal-burning power plants or landfills. With the expericenes gained from this campaign, we target now emission-sources with much weaker gradients, like boreal wetlands and permafrost araes, but also anthropogenic hot spots in the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic.

The figure displays the target areas for the CoMet Arctic campaign. These comprise boreal wetlands and permafrost araes, but also anthropogenic sources.

For the CoMet 2.0 mission, HALO will be equipped with a suite of sophisticated instruments measuring the carbon dioxide and methane columns between the aircraft and the ground using remote sensing, as well as insitu instruments that collect air samples at flight level. Furthermore, instruments to provide detailed information about the standard meteorological parameters (pressure, wind, humidity) will also be on board. In order to link those inflight data to profiles,
the launch of small meteorological sondes is foreseen.
The payload is exclusively dedicated to atmospheric measurement.

Partners

    • German Aerospace Center, Institute of Atmospheric Physics (DLR-IPA)
    • Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC)
    • University of Bremen – Institute for Environmental Physics (IUP)
    • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München, Meteorological Institute Munich (MIM)
    • German Aerospace Center, Flight Experiments (DLR-FX)

Scientific instruments and payload configuration

The payload of the COMET mission will be extended with the integration of the new MAMAP2D instrument. This 2-dimensional imaging spectrometer system measures CO2 and CH4. It is the successor instrument of MAMAP which was flown on the Cessna 207 during COMET. Including these measurements on the same platform with the other remote sensing (CHARM-F, mini-DOAS) and in situ (JIG, JAS) instruments facilitates further synergies for data analysis. Furthermore, the core payload will be complemented by a quantum cascade laser spectrometer to measure ethane (C2H6), a tracer for emissions from oil and gas emissions.

The following table gives an overview on the instruments onboard the aircraft during CoMet and their measurement parameters:

  • CHARM-F

    Integrated path differential absorption lidat (IPDA) | Andreas Fix (DLR-PA)

  • MAMAP

    Imaging NIR Spectrometer | Heinrich Bovensmann (Uni Bremen)

  • miniDOAS

    UV/VIS/NIR Spectrometer | Klaus Pfeilsticker (Univ. Heidelberg)

  • JIG

    Cavity-Ringdown Spectroscopy (CRDS) | Christoph Gerbig (MPI-BGC)

  • JAS

    Air sampler | Christoph Gerbig (MPI-BGC)

  • MIRACLE

    Laser Spectrometer | Anke Roiger (DLR-PA)

  • specMACS

    Hyperspectral Imaging | Florian Ewald (DLR-PA)

  • BAHAMAS

    HALO Basic aircraft measurement system | Andreas Giez (DLR-FX)

  • Dropsondes

    Meteorological dropsondes | Stefan Kaufmann (DLR-PA)

  • FOKAL

    Frequency Reference for CHARM-F | A. Fix (DLR-PA)

HALO flights for this mission

Flights are listed by
Aircraft registration | Date | Take-off / Landing (UT) | Total flight time (h) | From / To | Mission #

  • D-ADLR | 2022-07-22 | 10:06 – 13:05 | 3.22 | EDMO-EDMO | RF00
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-04 | 09:04 – 15:48 | 7.02 | EDMO-EDMO | RF01
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-06 | 13:02 – 22:28 | 9.72 | EDMO-CYEG | RF02
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-09 | 16:04 – 22:27 | 6.62 | CYEG-CYEG | RF03
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-10 | 16:04 – 21:48 | 5.98 | CYEG-CYEG | RF04
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-12 | 16:13 – 23:46 | 7.70 | CYEG-CYEV | RF05
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-13 | 01:05 – 03:41 | 2.88 | CYEV-CYEG | RF05
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-16 | 15:34 – 20:53 | 5.53 | CYEG-CYZF | RF06
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-17 | 00:40 – 02:16 | 1.80 | CYZF-CYEG | RF06
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-18 | 15:27 – 23:41 | 8.42 | CYEG-CYEG | RF07
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-25 | 16:57 – 23:15 | 6.53 | CYEG-CYEG | RF08
  • D-ADLR | 2022-08-26 | 15:07 – 00:07 | 9.20 | CYEG-CYEG | RF09
  • D-ADLR | 2022-09-02 | 16:34 – 23:51 | 7.52 | CYEG-CYEG | RF10
  • D-ADLR | 2022-09-03 | 14:59 – 00:43 | 9.97 | CYEG-CYEG | RF11
  • D-ADLR | 2022-09-05 | 13:27 – 23:41 | 10.43 | CYEG-CYEG | RF12
  • D-ADLR | 2022-09-07 | 13:28 – 22:31 | 9.25 | CYEG-CYEG | RF13
  • D-ADLR | 2022-09-10 | 16:53 – 22:20 | 5.67 | CYEG-CYEG | RF14
  • D-ADLR | 2022-09-11 | 12:57 – 22:34 | 9.82 | CYEG-CYEG | RF15
  • D-ADLR | 2022-09-14 | 08:54 – 12:12 | 3.52 | CYEG-CYEG | RF16
  • D-ADLR | 2022-09-16 | | |CYEG-EDMO | RF17

More information

Press releases, media etc.

Initial press release

Re­search flights over Cana­da anal­yse green­house gas­es
Read more.. (in Einglish) | Weiterlesen.. (auf Deutsch)