Project Details
Projekt
Aerosol particles in the outflow regions of the Asian monsoon: Composition and formation processes
Applicant
Dr. Franziska Köllner
Subject Area
Atmospheric Science
Term
since 2022
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461450144
The Asian summer monsoon plays an important role when understanding the global chemistry and climate, partly because of its impact on upper tropospheric and lower stratospheric aerosol and cloud properties. The so-called Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL) has been studied with remote-sensing and balloon-borne measurement techniques in the past decade. However, in-situ observations of the particle chemical composition in the ATAL, particularly in the outflow of the Asian monsoon towards mid latitudes, are sparse. We hypothesize that air masses in the outflow contain processed aerosol, due to photochemical aging processing and secondary aerosol formation along the transport. Such processes can influence the ice nucleation abilities and thereby the indirect climate effect of the particles. We thus propose to study in-situ the aerosol composition in the fine particle size range by means of the hybrid aerosol mass spectrometer ERICA (ERC instrument for the chemical composition of aerosols) onboard HALO in the frame of the mission PHILEAS. The ERICA allows the concurrent measurement of both aerosol bulk composition and single particle composition as well as mixing state. We will extend the measurement capabilities of the ERICA by adding an impactor that facilitates particle off-line analysis using X-ray dispersive electron microscopy and by adding an optical trigger mode for quantitative single particle analysis. This novel data set combined with measurements of gas-phase tracers and Lagrangian modelling allows us to study aerosol sources, formation processes, and photochemical processing along transport.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
