Project Details
Projekt
CAFE-Brazil Umbrella – Chemistry of the Atmosphere: Field Experiment in Brazil
Applicant
Professor Dr. Joachim Curtius
Subject Area
Atmospheric Science
Term
since 2022
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461450470
The CAFE-Brazil HALO mission (Chemistry of the Atmosphere: Field Experiment Brazil) will be conducted over the Amazon basin in Dec 2022/Jan 2023. The operational base of the HALO research aircraft will be in Manaus, Brazil. The main objectives of CAFE-Brazil are to study tropical tropospheric oxidant photochemistry in combination with particle formation and growth mechanisms under pristine conditions over the Amazon rainforest. We aim to investigate how VOC emissions influence oxidation chemistry at low and lightning-elevated NOx concentrations, radical cycling, and how this links to new particle formation, aerosol abundance, particle composition and CCN. The university partner from Goethe University Frankfurt plans to operate an Chemical Ionization Atmospheric Pressure interface Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometer (CI-APi-TOF) that will be able to measure gaseous highly oxidized molecules that result from oxidation of terpenes emitted by trees, as well as gaseous sulfuric acid. The CI-APiTOF complements the unique instrumentation of CAFE-Brazil and will be the key instrument to identify the chemical compounds that cause aerosol nucleation in the outflow of deep convection above the Amazon basin.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
