SGER: Surface and Boundary-Layer Profiling during OASIS using the CU Tethered Balloon Platform

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This project will deploy two kinds of tethered balloons to collect vertical profile data in support of the Ocean-Atmosphere-Sea Ice-Snowpack Interactions in Polar Regions (OASIS) project in lieu of constructing a 40m walk-up tower. OASIS will be in the field near Barrow, Alaska in winter/spring 2009. A small, i.e. 12-foot diameter balloon, will be deployed for measuring meteorological parameters and ozone profiles 2-3 times per day between the surface and ~600 m altitude. A second experiment, using a larger and stronger lift, i.e. 20-foot-diameter balloon, will raise three sampling lines to heights of ~120, 80, and 40 m. Air pulled from these inlets will be analyzed for trace gases with monitors located in instrument shelters on the ground. Measurements from the stationary balloon inlets will include nitrogen oxides (NOx), as well as nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC), and peroxyacyl nitrates (e.g. PAN), yielding the first high resolution, simultaneous, and continuous NOx, NMHC and PAN vertical profiles from a polar research site. The balloon meteorological data will reveal the boundary layer mixing conditions; this information will allow evaluation and further interpretation of surface measurements. The tethered balloon data will be of extremely high value for input and validation of chemical modeling to be done in the context of OASIS. A particular emphasis will be to elucidate the radical chemistry that leads to ozone and mercury depletion events in the coastal arctic environment. Furthermore, this research ties into the question of how atmospheric chemical processing is connected to ecological impacts, and how climate change will feedback on these interactions. OASIS will entail a multitude of new surface exchange and atmospheric measurements in an international collaborative effort during International Polar Year. Data and findings from this work will be readily shared among all OASIS scientists for broader dissemination of the research implications. Analytical developments within this project will be beneficial for future atmospheric research applications. This experiment will bring together scientists, including students, from the University of Colorado and National Center for Atmospheric Research, as well as from other OASIS-participating research institutions. One CU graduate student will be supported from this grant and participate in the field work. Balloon operations attract a lot of public attention and are particularly fascinating for school children. Students and teachers from Barrow schools will be invited to the balloon site for a tour of the balloon experiment and its scientific purpose. This is a Small Grant for Exploratory Research due to the very short timeline to put the vertical profile equipment in place to meet the research requirements of OASIS and as a novel approach to collecting atmospheric measurements of this kind.