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GACP Field Campaigns

ASTAR 2000 — Arctic Study of Tropospheric Aerosol and Radiation

Field activity location:

  • The measurements will be performed in the vicinity of Spitzbergen
  • The aircraft measurements will be performed from Longyearbyen (78.2°N, 15.7°E)
  • The groundbased measurements will be performed at Ny-Aalesund (78.9 °N, 11.9°E)

Field activity date:

  • First flight: March 15, 2000
  • Closure experiment with the Raman LIDAR: March 15, 2000 to March 25, 2000
  • Validation experiment with SAGE II: April 20, 2000 to April 25, 2000
  • Last flight: April 25, 200
  • Groundbased measurements at Ny-Aalesund: March 15, 2000 to April 25, 200

Organizing institutions:

  • National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan (Principal Investigator: Takashi Yamanouchi
  • Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam/Bremerhaven, Germany (Principal Investigator: Andreas Herber)

Participating institutions:

  • NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, Virginia (USA)
  • German Aerospace Oberpfaffenhofen (Germany)
  • Aerodata Braunschweig (Germany)
  • Norwegian Institute for Air Research Kjeller (Norway)
  • Meteorological Institute Stockholm University (Sweden)
  • Norwegian Polar Institute Tromsoe/Oslo (Norway)

Short description of the objectives: The scientific goal of the experiment is the investigation of the radiation effects of aerosols under clear sky conditions in the Arctic region. The aim should be supply of climate relevant aerosol parameter (extinction and absorption coefficient, and phase function). These data will be the input parameter for the Arctic regional climate model HIRHAM to calculate the radiative forcing due to Arctic aerosol. The vertical profile of the aerosol parameter will be measured up to 24000 ft. One of the main focus is within the scope of the experiment the closure between the Raman LIDAR measurements in Ny-Aalesund and the aircraft Sun photometer. Another goal of the experiment is the direct comparison between aircraft measurements with satellite aerosol measurements in framework of the SAGE II.

Link to the campaign web site: A special web site with more information of the campaign is planned to December

Andreas Herber, e-mail: aherber@AWI-potsdam.DE