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UP: Fachverband Umweltphysik
UP 2: Clouds and Aerosols
UP 2.1: Invited Talk
Thursday, September 2, 2021, 14:00–14:20, H3
BLUESKY - Atmospheric Composition Changes during the Corona Lockdown 2020 — •Christiane Voigt1,2, Jos Leliefeld3, Johannes Schneider3, Daniel Sauer1, Ralf Meerkötter1, Silke Groß1, Ulrich Schumann1, Mira Pöhlker3, Laura Tomsche1, Mariano Mertens1, and Hans Schlager1 — 1Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany — 2Universität Mainz, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Mainz, Germany — 3Max-Planck Institut für Chemie, Mainz, Germany
Worldwide regulations to control the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant reductions in ground and airborne transportation in spring 2020, which provided the unique opportunity to directly measure the less perturbed atmosphere, notably near the tropopause. The BLUESKY mission employed the high-altitude, long-range research aircraft HALO and the DLR Falcon together with satellite observations and models to study the atmospheric composition changes. From 16 May to 9 June 2020, the 2 research aircraft performed 20 flights over Europe. Profiles of trace species were measured with an advanced in-situ trace gas, aerosol and cloud payload from the boundary layer to 14 km altitude. I will present an overview and selected highlights of the campaign. Continental aerosol profiles show significant reductions in aerosol mass in the boundary layer and lower organic aerosol mass fractions in the free troposphere. The reduced aerosol optical thickness above Germany has also been detected by MODIS and contributes to the observed *blue sky* during the lockdown period 2020.