CAFE-Pacific Umbrella – Chemistry of the Atmosphere: Field Experiment in the PacificUmbrella proposal for DFG-funded university partners

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The CAFE-Pacific mission with the HALO research aircraft studies air chemistry and aerosol formation in the tropical upper troposphere above the Indo-Pacific ocean. The base for the measurement flights is in Cairns, Australia. From there, in the period from December 2023 to January 2024, largely unpolluted air masses over the Pacific as well as measurements over the Indo-Pacific in the north, over Australian coastal regions and over the rainforest of Australia are to be carried out. As part of the CAFE-Pacific mission, HALO is equipped with a large set of instrumentation that allow a very comprehensive characterization of the trace substances that are decisive for the chemical processing in the gas phase. Various radicals, reactive nitrogen compounds, sulfur compounds, organic substances and numerous aerosol parameters are measured. A special focus of the measurements are investigations in the outflow of deep convection. In particular, the chemical oxidation steps for substances such as dimethylsulfite are to be investigated. The oxidation products are of low volatility, so that strong particle formation events occur. Furthermore, the oxidation capacity of the air in the tropical troposphere is investigated.