PGS: POLSTRACC / GWLCYCLE and SALSA: University Participation in joint Arctic HALO Mission

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Andreas Engel; Professor Dr. Klaus Pfeilsticker; Professor C. Michael Volk, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Atmospheric Science
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 313509887

This proposal aims at performing measurements by the university groups involved in the campaign PGS (POLSTRACC/ GWLCYCLE/ SALSA) planned with the HALO aircraft for winter 2015/2016. The universities involved are those of Frankfurt, Mainz, Heidelberg and Wuppertal. The University of Mainz is not a full partner of the proposal as there is no current project from the last phase of the priority programme. Rather the financial part of Mainz will be administrated via University of Frankfurt. The scientific contribution of the University Mainz is nevertheless outlined in a similar way as for the other Universities. PGS intends to provide observations of a wide range of tracers with different live times (ranging from reactive chemicals to inert tracers) to investigate chemical and dynamical aspects of the UTLS (POLSTRACC and SALSA) and the formation and propagation of gravity waves (GW-LCYCLE). The Universities of Frankfurt and Wuppertal will provide GC measurements of tracers with different lifetimes and CO2 data (Wuppertal). University Mainz will operate a laser spectrometer for fast measurements of N2O, CH4 and CO and University Heidelberg will perform measurements of reactive chlorine and bromine species using the DOAS technique. The scientific studies to be performed are outlined below and include budget studies of air mass origin, studies of chemical partitioning, studies of transport phenomena and of transport time scales. We emphasize that this proposal outlines the science to be performed with the measurements, but that the scientific studies themselves are not deliverables of this proposal due to the short funding period and limited funding for scientific staff. Instead the outcome of this proposal will be the preparation and integration of the instruments, the measurements themselves and the provision of data to the data base. We apply here for the University share of the mission costs (including certification and flight costs), for limited personnel and consumable fund and for the travel funds to carry out the measurements.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Peter Hoor