On August 30th, the two German polar research aircraft (Polar 5 and 6) took off from Svalbard Airport to conduct their first aerial survey flights over the Arctic this year. The expedition, originally scheduled to start in the spring, had to be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Polar 5, carrying on-board our PLANET system, is focused on an atmospheric study. It is equipped with a diverse range of meteorological instruments, including a LIDAR system, a photometer, and numerous radiometers.
Large-scale surveys of the air masses over the Arctic Ocean are being carried out. Cloud formation is being in depth investigated mainly to answer the question; in which range do aerosol particles and eddies impact this process?
In this context, the board to ground communication is essential. While the Polar 5 is in the air, the communication is granted by PLANET. This is of great help to ease the coordination between the vast team of researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), the Universities of Leipzig, Bremen and Cologne, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
The whole ATMOSPHERE team continues to support this campaign until the third week of September.
Further information can be found here: https://mosaic-expedition.org/
