Research project IM/RT/23/PASPARTOUT (Research action IM)
The atmospheric circulation, water cycle, and cloud-aerosol-interactions are key elements of the Antarctic climate system. Clouds and aerosols play a significant role in the radiative energy budget and aerosols impact cloud microphysics because they are cloud condensation (CCN) and ice nuclei. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and their atmospheric degradation products might play a role in the formation of CCN. In addition, clouds are an important part of the hydrological cycle serving as the agent linking water vapour transport into Antarctica with precipitation.
To investigate these complex processes, different instrumentation and modelling tools will be combined within PASPARTOUT. By analysing ERA-5 data (European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th generation), the project will investigate the atmospheric circulation patterns and weather regimes over the last 15 years. Further, the atmospheric transport pathways and potential source regions of atmospheric compounds will be determined and pathways and weather types will be connected to measured properties of particles, VOCs, moisture, precipitation and clouds.
In addition to atmospheric composition measurements at Princess Elisabeth station, automated samplers for a year-round, temporally resolved sampling of VOCs, and of inorganic compounds (isotopes; metals and rare earth elements) will be set up near the coast in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. This will be complemented with snow profile measurements, in order to collect samples of the different layers of annual snow accumulation for chemical analyses.
Finally, based on the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) archive of climate model data, it will be investigated how atmospheric circulation might change towards the future. PASPARTOUT will relate that to how potential source regions will change in a changing climate and will determine the implications on clouds and precipitation as a result of changes in atmospheric composition.
