0000000000353095
AUTHOR
Paul Stock
The ACRIDICON-CHUVA campaign: Studying tropical deep convective clouds and precipitation over Amazonia using the new German research aircraft HALO
Abstract Between 1 September and 4 October 2014, a combined airborne and ground-based measurement campaign was conducted to study tropical deep convective clouds over the Brazilian Amazon rain forest. The new German research aircraft, High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO), a modified Gulfstream G550, and extensive ground-based instrumentation were deployed in and near Manaus (State of Amazonas). The campaign was part of the German–Brazilian Aerosol, Cloud, Precipitation, and Radiation Interactions and Dynamics of Convective Cloud Systems–Cloud Processes of the Main Precipitation Systems in Brazil: A Contribution to Cloud Resolving Modeling and to the GPM (Global Precipitatio…
Airborne measurements of the nitric acid partitioning in persistent contrails
This study reports the first systematic measurements of nitric acid (HNO3) uptake in contrail ice particles at typical aircraft cruise altitudes. During the CIRRUS-III campaign cirrus clouds and almost 40 persistent contrails were probed with in situ instruments over Germany and Northern Europe in November 2006. Besides reactive nitrogen, water vapor, cloud ice water content, ice particle size distributions, and condensation nuclei were measured during 6 flights. Contrails with ages up to 12 h were detected at altitudes 10–11.5 km and temperatures 211–220 K. These contrails had a larger ice phase fraction of total nitric acid (HNO3ice/HNO3tot = 6%) than the ambient cirrus layers (3%). On av…
Redistribution of total reactive nitrogen in the lowermost Arctic stratosphere during the cold winter 2015/2016
During winter 2015/2016 the Arctic stratosphere was characterized by extraordinarily low temperatures in connection with the occurrence of extensive polar stratospheric clouds. From mid of December 2015 until mid of March 2016 the German research aircraft HALO (High Altitude and Long–Range Research Aircraft) was deployed to probe the lowermost stratosphere in the Arctic region within the POLSTRACC (Polar Stratosphere in a Changing Climate) mission. More than twenty flights have been conducted out of Kiruna/Sweden and Oberpfaffenhofen/Germany, covering the whole winter period. Besides total reactive nitrogen (NOy), observations of nitrous oxide, nitric acid, ozone and water were used f…
ML-CIRRUS: The Airborne Experiment on Natural Cirrus and Contrail Cirrus with the High-Altitude Long-Range Research Aircraft HALO
Abstract The Midlatitude Cirrus experiment (ML-CIRRUS) deployed the High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) to obtain new insights into nucleation, life cycle, and climate impact of natural cirrus and aircraft-induced contrail cirrus. Direct observations of cirrus properties and their variability are still incomplete, currently limiting our understanding of the clouds’ impact on climate. Also, dynamical effects on clouds and feedbacks are not adequately represented in today’s weather prediction models. Here, we present the rationale, objectives, and selected scientific highlights of ML-CIRRUS using the G-550 aircraft of the German atmospheric science community. The first combi…
Nitric Acid Trihydrate (NAT) formation at low NAT supersaturation in Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs)
International audience; A PSC was detected on 6 February 2003 in the Arctic stratosphere by in-situ measurements onboard the high-altitude research aircraft Geophysica. Low number densities (~10-4cm-3) of small nitric acid (HNO3) containing particles (dTNAT, these NAT particles have the potential to grow further and to remove HNO3 from the stratosphere, thereby enhancing polar ozone loss. Interestingly, the NAT particles formed in less than a day at temperatures just slightly below TNAT (T>TNAT-3.1K). This unique measurement of PSC formation at extremely low NAT saturation ratios (SNAT?10) constrains current NAT nucleation theories. We suggest, that the NAT particles have formed heterogeneo…