Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC)
Following in the footsteps of Fridtjof Nansen's ground-breaking expedition with his wooden sailing ship Fram in 1893-1896, the MOSAiC expedition brought a modern research vessel close to the North Pole for an entire year. The Fram's drift was repeated from September 2019 to October 2020 on the German research icebreaker Polarstern. The overarching goal was to improve the understanding and model representation of coupled atmosphere-ice-ocean-ecosystem processes in the Central Arctic. For more info on the expedition: https://mosaic-expedition.org/. I was part of team ATMOS and was onboard Polarstern in August-September 2020 (leg 5 of the expedition).
Together with colleagues, we deployed a complementary suite of in-situ trace gas instruments to give a comprehensive picture of near-surface concentrations of greenhouse and reactive trace gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, dimethylsulfide (DMS), volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, and gaseous elemental mercury). We also measured eddy covariance turbulent fluxes of carbon dioxide, methane, DMS and ozone to assess air-sea trace gas exchanges. Fluxes of carbon dioxide, methane, and DMS were also obtained with flux chamber systems deployed on both ice and water surface.
Main collaborators: Byron Blomquist, Dean Howard, Stephen Archer, Ludovic Bariteau, Detlev Helmig, Jacques Hueber, Hans-Werner Jacobi, Kevin Posman.
Related publications:
- Boyer et al., A full year of aerosol size distribution data from the central Arctic under an extreme positive Arctic Oscillation: Insights from the MOSAiC expedition, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, in review.
- Dada et al., A Central Arctic extreme aerosol event triggered by a warm air-mass intrusion, Nature Communications, 13, 5290, 2022.
- Beck et al, Automated identification of local contamination in remote atmospheric composition time series, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 15, 4195–4224, 2022.
- Shupe et al., Overview of the MOSAiC Expedition - Atmosphere, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 10 (1), 00060, 2022.
Toolik Field Station in Northern Alaska
Rapid Arctic warming, a lengthening growing season, and increasing abundance of high biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC)-emitting shrubs are all anticipated to increase atmospheric BVOCs in the Arctic atmosphere, with important implications for atmospheric oxidation processes and feedbacks. I led two summer field campaigns at Toolik Field Station to quantify BVOC emissions and ambient concentrations over two growing seasons. Measurements included: vegetation enclosures to quantify emissions of isoprene, monoterpenes (MT), and sesquiterpenes (SQT); ambient mixing ratio measurements for isoprene, MT, SQT, isoprene oxidation products, nitrogen oxides, and ozone; surface flux measurements for ozone and nitrogen oxides; and comprehensive meteorological observations. We also performed tethered balloon vertical profile measurements to assess vertical mixing and boundary layer dynamics.
Main collaborators: Detlev Helmig, Jacques Hueber, Dylan Millet, Lu Hu.
Related publications:
- Selimovic et al., Atmospheric biogenic volatile organic compounds in the Alaskan Arctic tundra: constraints from measurements at Toolik Field Station, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, in press.
- Angot et al., Biogenic volatile organic compound ambient mixing ratios and emission rates in the Alaskan Arctic tundra, Biogeosciences, 17, 23, 6219-6236, 2020.
Amsterdam Island, French Southern and Antarctic Lands
The Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) is a unique global observing system providing comparable monitoring data on mercury levels in air and marine ecosystems in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres aiming to support the Minamata Convention. GMOS provides long-term and high precision observations from over 35 ground-based monitoring stations. These data are needed to better understand the role of anthropogenic activities, to better quantify mercury sources and sinks, and to determine mercury impact on ecosystem and human health. During my PhD, I performed 3 field campaigns on Amsterdam Island, in the remote Indian Ocean, for maintenance and training purposes.
Main collaborators: Aurélien Dommergue, Olivier Magand.
Related publications:
- Angot et al., A 2-year record of atmospheric mercury species at a background Southern Hemisphere station on Amsterdam Island, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 14, 11461-11473, 2014.
- Slemr et al., Comparison of mercury concentrations measured at several sites in the Southern Hemisphere, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 15, 3125-3133, 2015.
- Sprovieri et al., Atmospheric mercury concentrations observed at ground-based monitoring sites globally distributed in the framework of the GMOS network, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16, 11915-11935, 2016.
- Slemr et al., Atmospheric mercury in the Southern Hemisphere - Part 1: Trend and inter-annual variations of atmospheric mercury at Cape Point, South Africa, in 2007-2017, and on Amsterdam Island in 2012-2017, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 20, 7683-7692, 2020.
