Deployment base.. Time period.. Description.. Principal investigators.. Partners.. Instruments.. Flights.. More information.. Press, media, photo gallery.. FX contact point..

Mission acronym, title and status

CAFE

"Chemistry of the atmosphere: African Field Experiment"

Mission status:     Campaign is currently in preparation.

HALO deployment base

• To be determined. Cape Verde is proposed.

Time period

Preliminary dates (to be confirmed):
June 18 - September 14, 2018

Different campaign phases:

Project description

The main objective of CAFE is to study the influence of the massive biomass burning emissions from southern Africa on the atmospheric oxidation capacity over the tropical and South Atlantic Ocean. Primary objectives of the mission are to study:

• Biomass burning emissions from Africa,
• Long-distance air pollution transport over the Atlantic,
• Ozone and radical chemistry: sources and sinks,
• Oxidation capacity of clean vs. polluted marine atmosphere,
• Chemical aging by oxidation processes of gases and aerosols,
• Oxidation products and reaction intermediates from VOC degradation, and
• Constraining models: effects on air quality and climate.

Additionally several secondary objectives, building on the result from the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) project, will be addressed:

• Deep convective outflow from the west African monsoon (WAM),
• Interactions of the west African monsoon with biomass burning emissions, and
• Processing of gases and aerosols in deep convective clouds.

In order to address these objectives the scientific payload will include a multitude of stateof- the-art in-situ and remote sensing instruments for the measurements of trace gases including radicals (OH, HO₂, RO_x), nitrogen oxides (NO, HONO, HNO₃, PAN, NO_y), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), partially oxidized volatile organic compounds (OVOCs, e.g., aldehydes, ketones and peroxides), reactive tracers (SO₂, CO, CH₄), ozone, aerosols and their composition.

The expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, the large vertical extent of the tropical troposphere and the influence of the deep convection associated with the WAM require that this study is performed with HALO, since no other aircraft in Germany is able to fulfill the mission requirements with respect to altitude and range.

The mission will take place over the equatorial and south Atlantic (20 °N - 20 °S) during a four-week period in summer 2018. The operational base will be Cape Verde, with secondary bases (for fuel stops) at and near the African continent. Besides transfer flights to the operational base, 10-12 scientific flights (100 flight hours) are planned on task.

Principal investigators

Principal investigator

• Prof. Dr. Jos Lelieveld, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, 55128 Mainz, Germany

Mission coordinator

• Dr. Marcel Dorf, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, 55128 Mainz, Germany

Partners

• Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Mainz (MPIC)
• Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ)
• Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
• Universität Heidelberg
• Universität Wuppertal
• Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Einrichtung für Flugexperimente (FX)

Scientific instruments and payload configuration

List of scientific instruments for the mission:

Cabin and exterior configuration of HALO for the mission

Not yet available.

HALO flights for this mission

No flights yet.

More information

Press releases, media etc.

Contact point at FX for this mission

HALO Project Management: tbd
(preliminary contact: Katrin Witte)

Postal address:
DLR Oberpfaffenhofen
Flugexperimente (FX)
Münchener Str. 20
82234 Weßling
Germany

Office phone:
+49 (0)8153 28-1357