Research project Microbiology-Ocean-Cloud-Coupling in the High Arctic (MOCCHA)
Will the ice continue to disappear at an ever-increasing rate as the exposed ocean surface absorbs increasing amounts of solar radiation? Or might conditions become progressively more favorable for biological activity and associated cloud-formation, decreasing the amount of solar-radiation received at the surface?
What are the consequences of the dramatic loss of summer sea-ice for Arctic climate? How might the Arctic climate change on inter-annual and inter-decadal time scales and quite how sensitive is it to anthropogenic climate change? These are key questions that our project will strive to answer.
To do so, we have conducted unique measurements during a research cruise to the high Arctic in summer 2018 aboard the Swedish icebreaker (I/B) Oden as part of the Arctic Ocean 2018 expedition. During the cruise, which took place throughout the most active period biologically and into the autumn freeze-up (mid July to September), I/B Oden drifted passively whilst moored to an ice floe.
⇒ See "More about this projects" below to read about recent updates (outreach, presentations and papers).
Project description
Projects at ACES
Within ACES, we are responsible for the following projects during the expedition:
- Aerosol-cloud interactions in the High Arctic (PI: Paul Zieger)
- Cloud-water and aerosol sampling using a tethered balloon (PI: Paul Zieger and Matthew Salter)
- Quantifying the source of aerosols from open leads in the High Arctic (PI: Matthew Salter)
Project 1: Aerosol-cloud interactions in the High Arctic
Aerosol and cloud sampling were performed on the 4th deck using a newly designed whole-air inlet and a special cloud inlet (called the counterflow virtual impactor inlet / CVI), which just samples cloud droplets. Ambient particles and cloud droplets are then dried and characterized using various in-situ instruments. We used instrumentation to determine the size and chemical composition of the particles. A schematic overview is depicted in the figure below.
Julia Schmale and Andrea Baccarini (Paul Scherrer Institute, PSI, Switzerland) contributed by characterizing the role of new particle formation in the high Arctic and by performing high-resolution chemical analysis of cloud condensation nuclei. Their instrumentation were located in the red Swiss container next to the triplet container on the 4th deck. More details and their blog can be found here.
Project 2: Sampling of cloud-water and aerosols using a tethered balloon
We developed a new instrument to sample the cloud droplets and ice crystals of elevated clouds in the high Arctic. The samples (or the cloud water) were analyzed in the laboratory with respect to the chemical composition and the ability to form ice nuclei. The mini-CWS (miniaturized cloud water sampler) has been successfully deployed on a tethered balloon during the expedition.
Project 3: Sampling at the open leads
A floating chamber will be used to sample particles which are produced by bubble bursting in the open leads. For this purpose, we designed a floating chamber which is based on the sea spray chamber in our lab at ACES. Particles were characterized concerning their, concentration, size and chemical composition (filter sampling).
Project members
Project managers
Paul Christoph Zieger
Associate Professor
Matthew Salter
Facility manager
Members
Linn Karlsson
Forskningsassistent
Julika Zinke
Postdoktor
Publications
More about this project
Updates: Presentations, outreach, papers & other proceedings
- November 2018: Talks at English School in Nacka and for English school IES in Täby (at SU), Aerosol and cloud research in the Arctic: Report from the US-Swedish icebreaker expedition to the North Pole by Paul
- March 2019: First data workshop at Stockholm University regarding all online measurements (21-26 March 2019) and official workshop in Stockholm, Sweden (27-29 March 2019) where Andrea, Julia and Paul present first results to the participants of the Arctic Ocean 2019 expedition.
- April 2019: Presentations by Julia and Paul on first results of the MOCCHA campaign (QuIESCENT Arctic workshop, 4-5 April 2019, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK)
- March 2019: Talk at the Bolin Centre Science Seminar, Aerosol-cloud interactions in the Arctic -Recent results from our observations on Svalbard and the high Arctic by Paul (March 2019)
- March 2019: Talk at the 3rd Arctic Ocean workshop in Stockholm, Aerosols and clouds in the high Arctic -Recent results from the Arctic Ocean 2018 expedition by Paul (March 2019)
- May 2019: Talk during Earth Week at Stockholm University, Arctic research at ACES - Recent results from our aerosol-cloud observations on Svalbard and the high Arctic by Paul (May 2019)
- May 2019: Invited talk at MetNo and University of Oslo (Norway), Aerosol-cloud interactions in the Arctic -Recent results from our observations on Svalbard and the high Arctic by Paul (May 2019)
- August 2019: Presenting new results at the European Aerosol Conference, 25-30 August 2019, in Gothenburg, Sweden
- Poster presentation by Julia et al., "Aerosol activation in clouds: Marginal ice zone versus North Pole observations"
- Oral presentation by Andrea et al., "New Particle Formation in the Central Arctic Ocean"
- Oral presentation Paul et al., "Aerosol-cloud interactions in the high Arctic"
- Poster presentation by Julika et al., "A miniaturised balloon-borne cloud water sampler: Development, deployment and chemical analysis of samples obtained in the high Arctic"
- September 2019: Invited talk at the 3rd PACES Open Science Meeting, Oslo, 18-20 September 2019 by Paul, "Aerosol-cloud interactions in the Arctic: Recent results from our observations on Svalbard and the high Arctic"
- November 2019: Second data workshop at Stockholm University (7-15 November 2019)
- January 2020: Our first publication on "A miniaturised balloon-borne cloud water sampler and its deployment in the high Arctic" has been submitted for publication to Tellus B. A preversion of the manuscript can be found here.
- April 2020: Poster presentation, "Chemical composition of summertime High Arctic aerosols using chemical ionization mass spectrometry" at EGU 2020 by Karolina (abstract can be found here).
- May 2020: Presentation at the Nordic Society for Aerosol Research (NOSA) online symposia, "Observing aerosol-cloud interactions in the Arctic" by Paul
- Fall and spring 2020-2021: We are starting an online seminar series to present and jointly discuss recent findings. Start is 17th of September (every 2nd Thursday).
- October 2020: First paper on iodine and new particle formation by Andrea et al. published in Nature Communications
- February 2021: New perspective paper on "Aerosols in current and future Arctic climate" published in Nature Climate Change
- March 2021: New scientific paper on "Insights into the molecular composition of semi-volatile aerosols in the summertime central Arctic Ocean using FIGAERO-CIMS" published in Environmental Science: Atmospheres
- May 2021: Our technical paper on the miniaturized cloud water sampler "The development of a miniaturised balloon-borne cloud water sampler and its first deployment in the high Arctic" has been published in Tellus B
- October 2021: New scientific paper led by Mike Lawler (UCI) "New Insights Into the Composition and Origins of Ultrafine Aerosol in the Summertime High Arctic" published in GRL
- April 2022: New scientific paper led by Grace Porter (Leeds) "Highly Active Ice-Nucleating Particles at the Summer North Pole" published in JGR
- June 2022: New scientific paper led by Linn Karlsson (ACES) "Physical and Chemical Properties of Cloud Droplet Residuals and Aerosol Particles During the Arctic Ocean 2018 Expedition" published in JGR
Media coverage
- July 2018: Radio interview with Matt on Swedish radio
- October 2018: Radio feature by Helen Czerski on BBC4
- September 2018: Article in the Guardian by Helen
- September 2018: Article on EGU blog, The puzzle of high Arctic aerosols by Julia
- August 2019: Postcard from the field in AGU's EOS magazine by Paul (see last page in EOS)
- July 2021: Article in Mongabay, As Arctic warms, scientists wrestle with its climate ‘tipping point’ by Conrad Fox
More information can be found on social media using the hashtag #ArcticOcean2018 (e.g. on Twitter or Instagram). The cruise reports (also from the other teams) and more impressions can be found here.