Influence of deep convection on particle formation and aerosol budget in the free troposphere from airborne observations with HALO (PARTFORM-HALO)

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This project (Influence of deep convection on particle formation and aerosol budget in the free troposphere from airborne observations with HALO; acronym PARTFORM-HALO) addresses one of the key topics in current atmospheric and climate research, namely the interaction of atmospheric aerosol particles with cloud properties and precipitation intensity and their indirect effect on climate. PARTFORM-HALO supports and complements the DLR contribution of aerosol microphysical measurements to ACRIDICON (Aerosol, Cloud, Precipitation, and Radiation Interactions and Dynamics of Extra-Tropical Convective Cloud Systems), one of the first major missions of the new German research aircraft HALO. The ACRIDICON consortium will operate on HALO a variety of instruments to measure aerosol and cloud properties, trace gases, and radiation. Target region of the mission will be Northern Spain, where thunderstorm systems develop regularly in summer and where conditions in the boundary layer can vary from polluted to clean cases, providing an ideal test bed for process studies inside and in the outflow of convective clouds. PARTFORM-HALO focuses on the analysis of the observational data, and will include also cloud-resolved aerosol modelling in collaboration with University of Stockholm. In order to be able to conduct accurate, high quality microphysical aerosol measurements, in-depth characterization of instrument performance within the extended altitude range of HALO, in particular of new condensation particle counters, is an essential part of this project.