Airborne campaigns with AWI aircraft Polar 5 and Polar 6 in 2020 during MOSAiC

The goal of MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) is to improve the understanding of coupled atmosphere-ice-ocean- ecosystem processes in the Central Arctic in order to support improved sea ice and regional weather forecasting as well as climate predictions. Activities within MOSAIC include ship-borne measurements on the RV Polarstern and airborne observations, e.g. with the AWI research aircraft. The latter are based on the PAMARCMIP project since 2009 and are a contribution to the DFG Transregio project Arctic Amplification – AC*3 as well as to the PACES initiative. The airborne surveys crucially contribute to fill the gap between satellite remote sensing and in situ observations. They serve as calibration and validation for satellite remote sensing. Furthermore, helicopter-based work is planned from RV Polarstern with similar instrumentation as on the research aircraft Polar 5 and Polar 6 in order to fill the temporal gap between the aircraft campaigns. Svalbard is the preferred location, but this depends on the position of the RV Polarstern. Especially for the spring activity alternates are Station Nord/Villum, Greenland (BGNO) or the Canadian Forces Station Alert, Nunavut, (CYLT). The first campaign is scheduled for spring 2020 with operation base Longyearbyen, Svalbard. The second campaign is planned for early summer 2020, during the melt season. During the airborne activity complementary measurements on board of RV Polarstern and at the central observatory are planned. It is also foreseen to deploy the German High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) to extend the point measurements of RV Polarstern and the areal observations of the lower troposphere by the two AWI aircraft Polar 5 and Polar 6 to higher altitudes and over the whole Arctic area. The HALO measurements will complement the spring activity from the slower and lower flying AWI aircraft Polar 5/6.