goSouth

Model assisted vertical in-situ investigation of aerosols, and aerosol-cloud-turbulence interactions in the Southern Hemisphere marine boundary layer

Update: Site scouting trip for ground-based remote sensing site successfully accomplished in March 2024. The LACROS supersite of TROPOS will be deployed to Invercargill, New Zealand, for 1 year from June 2025 to at least June 2026. During the period it will accompany the HALO-South campaign of the German research aircraft HALO, scheduled for August-October 2025 and, hopefully, also a 4-week cruise of the German research vessel Sonne to the Tasmanian Sea, the Southern Ocean and the open Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand. It is also scheduled to accompany the long-term LACROS deployment with co-located in-situ measurements of the microphysical and chemical composition of cloud-relevant aerosol properties. In fall 2024, another site scouting trip is scheduled for arranging this deployment.

Still, Southern-Ocean clouds are routinely misrepresented in the present generation of climate models that informed the Assessment Reports of IPCC.  A major part of this problem is our still incomplete knowledge concerning the microphysical properties (e.g. droplet size distribution) and phase state (liquid or frozen) of Southern Ocean (SO) clouds, including the combined influences of aerosol particles, boundary layer dynamics, atmospheric and cloud turbulence, and thermodynamics on these properties. To scope with this issue TROPOS, NIWA, and IMUK we plan a joint model-based “proof-of-concept” in-situ measurement campaign during Austral spring 2022. The campaign will focus on the vertical distribution of aerosol chemical composition and physical properties, turbulence and meteorological variables in the marine boundary layer at Invercargill, New Zealand. A combination of ground-based and balloon-borne measurements of aerosol, thermodynamic and turbulence properties will be carried out. The goSouth campaign will be accompanied by remote-sensing measurements, which will be conducted in the frame of the LOSTECCA project.

Platform: Land-based

Location: Southern New Zealand Invercargill Area

Timing: September / October 2022

Contact: Frank Stratmann (stratmann<@>tropos.de)