Anthropogenic and natural continental aerosols are scarce over the Southern Ocean and Antarctica due to their remote location, which makes them an ideal environment to study aerosol-cloud interaction. During the ORACLES (ORigin of Antarctic CLoud particles and their Effects on the Surface radiation budget) field campaign, in-situ vertical aerosol measurements are obtained over the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 summer seasons at the coastal Antarctic site of Neumayer Station III. The measurements are done using a tethered balloon and its Modular Multiplatform Compatible Air Measurement System (MoMuCAMS, Pohorsky et al., 2024).
The helikite observations can be placed into a broader context by combining them with data from the station’s air chemistry observatory (SPUSO) and the local weather station. Initial observations show that aerosol concentrations vary between low background levels and occasional events characterized by elevated concentrations. To better understand the aerosol population under background conditions, the aim of this project is to analyse long-term SPUSO aerosol data in terms of aerosol total concentrations and size distributions throughout the years, in conjunction with meteorological variables.
This project is well suited for a student with a strong interest in working with atmospheric measurement datasets and some experience in coding. If you are interested in this project or want to learn more about it, please contact Julia Schmale ([email protected]) or Yolanda Temel ([email protected]).
