Measurements of tracer and precursor gases of secondary photooxidants and aerosols in pollution plumes of major European and Asian population centers (MEPOLL)

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This project is a contribution to the EMeRGe (Effect of megacities on the transport and transformation of pollutants on the regional and global scales) HALO mission and aims to investigate and identify differences in the composition of emissions in major population centers (MPCs) in Europe and Asia and specific transport and transformation processes of the pollution outflow in these regions. This will include detailed measurements with the HALO long range aircraft of the horizontal and vertical evolution of the MPC pollution plumes including vertical uplift of emissions into the free troposphere by convection. Two HALO campaigns are foreseen in Europe and East Asia based from Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany und Taipeh, Taiwan, respectively. The focus of this project is on measurements of tracer (CO, CO2, CH4, PFCs [perfluorocarbons]) to study the dispersion and mixing of pollution from MPCs with the environment, precursor gases of photooxidants (NOx), and precursor gases of aerosols (SO2, semi-volatile organic compounds). Four instrument systems will be deployed which have been developed for HALO and used already successfully during previous HALO campaigns. This includes an instrument package for ambient and artificial tracer (AMTEX, PERTRAS), NOx/NOy chemiluminescence detectors (AENEAS), and a chemical ionization ion trap mass spectrometer (CI-ITMS). For EMeRGe, the measurements capabilities of PERTRAS and CI-ITMS will be extended for the detection of organic acids which are expected to play an important role in aerosol formation and growth in MPC plumes. Furthermore, specific Lagrangian experiments will be performed using PFC tracer. This includes release of PFC tracer in selected MPC to tag the pollution plume and subsequent sampling of the pollution outflow downstream. Finally, this project will support the flight planning during the two HALO campaigns by providing meteorological and tracer dispersion forecasts using web-based interactive tools.