NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: contaminants, atmospheric sciences, meteorology, organic carbon, carbon, pollution, precipitation

Objective(s): To improve the understanding of natural and anthropogenic sources of the Arctic aerosol and processes by which the Arctic aerosol evolves.

Project Description: The NETCARE observations will be covered the range from Longyearbyen, Svalbard (European Arctic) until Inuvik (NWT – Polar 6 aircraft only) and Barrow (Alaska – Polar 5 aircraft only). The observational platforms will be two aircraft: 1) the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) POLAR 5, a modified DC-3 aircraft; and 2) the AWI POLAR 6, also a modified DC-3 aircraft. The two platforms will be coordinated as closely as possible to address the following science objectives: 1. to determine the relative importance of the mechanisms (dry, wet or ice) for the deposition of black carbon and organic carbon species to Arctic snow and ice; 2. to determine the vertical distribution of black carbon in the Arctic atmosphere; 3. to determine the concentrations of ice-forming nuclei (IN) in the Arctic, and what is the relative role of different sources (dust, biomass burning, black carbon, biological, oceanic) in these locations; 4. to determine the role of ice crystal precipitation in the removal of anthropogenic pollution to the Arctic during polar winter and springtime; 5. to determine the vertical extent of new particle formation and what atmospheric conditions favor particle nucleation and growth during the spring polar sunrise; 6. to determine if pollution affect IN concentrations and impact cloud microstructure and the surface energy budget in the Arctic; and, 7. to determine how do ice crystals affect the atmospheric energy balance in the springtime. NETCARE airborne observations are to be conducted from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI, Germany) DC-3 aircraft (POLAR 5 and 6) while based at five different locations for each aircraft across the Arctic: Longyearbyen, Norway; Station Nord, Greenland; Alert, Nunavut; Eureka, Nunavut; and finally Inuvik, Northwest Territories (Polar 6 only) and Barrow, Alaska (Polar 5 only) . During transit from Eureka to Inuvik, the aircraft may stop in Resolute Bay to re-fuel. The study will begin at Longyearbyen, and it will conclude its measurements in Inuvik, after which the Polar 5 will continue to Barrow, Alaska and the Polar 6 will return to Muskoka, Ontario. While in the Northwest Territories, the aircraft Polar 6 will be based out of Inuvik. The observations will be conducted using instrumentation on the aircraft. Only data media will be carried off the aircraft as well as some small filters and cartridges that will be cold stored and transported at the end of the study for analyses at the University of British Columbia and the University of Calgary. A small amount of butanol (about 1 liter over the course of the study) will be used by two of the instruments on the aircraft. The butanol will be retained in the aircraft and any unused butanol as well as waste butanol will be transported back to Toronto after completion of the study. All instruments will remain inside the aircraft for the duration of the study, unless malfunctions necessitate their removal for repairs. Such repairs will be done at the Ken Borek Air Ltd facilities in Inuvik. Following each flight, data from the instruments will be copied to storage media that will be further copied and examined for quality and for potential contributions to the scientific objectives. The springtime Arctic atmosphere is relatively heavy in components of pollution from southern latitudes, which is the primary motivation for this research study. During the time in Inuvik, the research team anticipates approximately 3 - 5 research flights of the aircraft. The range will be limited to approximately 300 km from Inuvik. Fuel for both aircraft is in place at Inuvik, commercial airport. Much of the in-flight time will be spent collecting data during profiling from near the surface (levelling at approximately 200 feet above surface for up to 15 minutes) to approximately 6 km above the surface. The low-level portion of the profiles will help us to understand dry deposition of pollution to the surface, and it will enable comparisons with similar ground-based observations in this area. In addition, low level flying at approximately 200 feet above the surface will be conducted where regions of open water (polynyas and leads) are available North of Inuvik). These low-level observations will help us to understand sources (emissions from open water) and sinks (enhanced dry deposition or deposition via fog droplets) of gases and particles over the region. No low-level flying will be conducted over land except during takeoffs and landings. Climate and sea ice change affects all who live in the north. The aim of this project is to measure weather, atmosphere and sea ice thickness to improve the understanding of the processes in the arctic atmosphere and to use these measurements to improve the regional and global climate models of the Arctic. In the short term (<3 years), the data will be used to study natural and anthropogenic sources of the Arctic aerosol and processes by which the Arctic aerosol evolves. These results will be used to estimate impacts of the particles on the energy balance of the Arctic atmosphere, cloud formation in the Arctic and to improve model representations of aerosol particles. At the conclusion of NETCARE, these data will be publicly available. Results from the study will be communicated through scientific meetings as well as scientific publications. Several publications in scientific journals are anticipated in the short term. The publications will be available to all interested parties. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from April 16, 2015 to April 23, 2015