Alfred Wegener Institute / Philipp Joppe, MPI for Chemistry
In challenging Antarctic conditions, researchers carried out ten measurement flights from Neumayer III Station in Germany to the 80th parallel south
A rare high-depth flight campaign over Antarctica has revealed unexpected concentrations of aerosols over the interior of the continent.
Antarctica is one of the main regulators of the Earth’s climate, as it reflects a large part of solar energy into space. Its vast ice caps and persistent cloud cover are central elements of this cooling effect.
Still, scientists still do not fully understand how clouds form over the continent, how they behave in the polar atmosphere, or how particles suspended in the air, known as aerosolsinfluence these processes.
To answer these questions, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, the Leibniz Institute for Troposphere Research and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry launched .
As aerosol measurements carried out using aircraft They are the first carried out in Antarctica in two decades and the first to reach the deep interior of the continent.
Clouds begin to form when water vapor condenses about microscopic particles suspended in the air, explains the Max Planck Institute in .
These particles, called aerosols, may be composed of sea salt, dust, soot or other substances that provide a surface on which to develop water droplets or ice crystals.
Compared to most of the world, Antarctica’s atmosphere contains much less aerosols. Even small variations in their number or chemical composition can significantly affect cloud formation and, consequently, the planet’s ability to reflect solar radiation back into space.
Scientists continue to work to clarify how aerosols and clouds interact in Antarctic conditions.
“To fill this knowledge gap, we are investigating natural and anthropogenic of aerosols, the conditions under which new particles form and the way their properties change when they float at different altitudes in the atmosphere or are transported over oceans, ice shelves and the Antarctic continent”, explains Zsófia Jurányithe Alfred Wegener Institute and the Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).
Jurányi leads the SANAT campaign in collaboration with Frank Stratmanfrom Instituto Leibniz, e Stephan Borrmannfrom the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry. The team is examining the origin of Antarctic aerosols and the way they move through the atmosphere.
“We are particularly interested in particles that act as condensation nuclei or ice nuclei, since these are the ones that leadultimately, to cloud formation in liquid phasein mixed or ice phase”.
During January and February, the team carried out ten research flights aboard the Polar 6 aircraftfrom AWI. Operating in adverse polar conditions, the flights departed from Neumayer III Station, in Germany, reaching the 80th parallel South.
Alfred Wegener Institute / Philipp Joppe, MPI for Chemistry
The SANAT flight campaign investigated the origin and transport of aerosols in the Antarctic atmosphere, where clouds form – for the first time also on the high seas
“The last comparable measurements were carried out 20 years ago, and the campaign at that time focused only on the spatial distribution of aerosols in the Antarctic coastal region”, says Stratmann. “We have now measured, for the first time, aerosols much further south, over the Antarctic Plateau, in some cases using recently developed techniques and methods.”
Surprising discoveries
One of the specialized instruments that were used in the SANAT campaign is the T-Bird, a probe towed by the aircraft via a 60 meter cable. Functioning independently of the aircraft, it collects detailed measurements during flight.
Combined with instruments installed aboard Polar 6 and ground-based observations at Neumayer III Station, the system allowed scientists to document the abundance of aerosolsmicroscale transport processes and chemical composition.
The researchers also recorded key atmospheric conditions, including air pressure, temperature and water vapor levels.
Throughout the flights, it was possible to collect a extensive volume of datawhich the team now intends to analyze over the next few months. A preliminary assessment has already revealed something surprising.
“Inland, we observed an unexpectedly high concentration of aerosols as well as chemical compositions of great interest,” says Stephan Borrmann.
“Antarctica and its surroundings are crucial components of the Earth system and global climate, which react to climate change and its effects, at the same time as influencing them”, explains Zsófia Jurányi.
With this unique data, the campaign not only contributes to improving weather forecasts and climate simulations, but also allows us to deepen the understanding of the interaction between clouds and aerosols and evaluate their influence on future climate conditions, the researchers say.
