The Arctic experiences dramatic changes due to climate warming. The underlying processes of the observed changes are not fully understood, yet they propagate through the entire global climate system with impacts on weather, ecosystems and geopolitics. Aerosol particles and clouds play a major role in that system and are among the main contributors to the overall uncertainties. We will investigate the chemical and microphysical properties of cloud droplets and aerosol particles using state-of-the-art experimental techniques. A special focus is set on the contribution of bioaerosols, which, despite their low number concentration, can have an important role in cloud formation and precipitation in pristine Arctic air. For this, we will operate a novel multiparameter bioaerosol spectrometer for the first time in the Arctic.
In order to characterize a full annual cycle – which will include the important polar night – we will expand our analysis using measurements of cloud and aerosol properties (including bioaerosols) at Zeppelin station on Spitsbergen in 2019 and 2020. This work is part of the NASCENT 2019-2020 campaign in Ny-Ålesund (a short report from the field can be found here). The measurements have started in June 2019 (see photos below). The project also benefits from large and comprehensive dataset of aerosols, clouds and meteorological parameters from the Arctic Ocean 2018 expedition on board the Swedish icebreaker Oden (see project website here).
Ambient aerosol particles and clouds will be sampled at Zeppelin Observatory with our special cloud inlet (called the counterflow virtual impactor inlet). Photo: Paul Zieger.
The new bioaerosol sensor installed behind the CVI inlet at Zeppelin Observatory. Photo: Paul Zieger.
News and Updates
- September 2022: We will be at IAC 2022 in Athens, Greece, and present results from the Arctic and the Oden expedition in 2018
- August 2022: Gabriel’s first PhD paper on bioaerosols emitted from Baltic seawater has been published in Env. Science Atm.
- June 2022: Our NASCENT overview paper with results from our project has been published in BAMS
- September 2020: Gabriel presents his new results at the European Aerosol Conference 2020 in Aachen, Germany (online conference) “Primary biological particles emitted from Baltic sea water”
- Summer 2020: Despite the current Corona pandemic, the bioaerosol sensor is running smoothly and is searching for bioaerosols in clouds
- November 2019: Visit to Ny-Alesund for maintenance and repair of instruments
- October 2019: An article by Tamara Worzewski on our aerosol-cloud observations at Zeppelin occurred in the Spektrum der Wissenschaften (German version of Scientific American), which also includes a video on our work up at Zeppelin in June 2019 (embedded below).
- August 2019: Gabriel presents results at the European Aerosol Conference 2019 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Title of his oral presentation “Characterization of Sea Spray Aerosol During the EMB184 Cruise on the Baltic Sea“.
- June 2019: The NASCENT campaign has started! We installed the bioaerosol sensor at Zeppelin Observatory. Everything is working fine and we get some interesting first data. Check out Gabriel’s report on our visit which can be found here.
- April 2019: Paul presents results on the “Characterisation of sea spray simulation chamber generated bioaerosols in the Baltic Sea” at the SOLAS Open Science Conference, 21-25 April 2019 in Sapporo, Japan.
Video by Tamara Worzewski on our work at Zeppelin Observatory in June 2019.
