Measurements of aerosol microphysical and chemical properties in the central Arctic atmosphere during MOSAiC

• Main Authors: Heutte, Benjamin, Bergner, Nora, Beck, Ivo, Angot, Hélène, Dada, Lubna, Quelever, Lauriane L. J., Laurila, Tiia, Boyer, Matthew, Brasseur, Zoe, Daellenbach, Kaspar R., Henning, Silvia, Kuang, Chongai, Kulmala, Markku, Lampilahti, Janne, Lampimäki, Markus, Petäjä, Tuukka, Shupe, Matthew D., Sipilä, Mikko, Uin, Janek, Jokinen, Tuija, Schmale, Julia
• Other Authors: Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR), Polar and arctic atmospheric research (PANDA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2023
• Subjects: Mass-spectrometer; Ocean expedition; Particle number; Size; Climate; Mobility; Amplification; Aethalometer; Calibration; Springtime; 114 Physical sciences; Arctic; black carbon; Climate change
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/569027

The Arctic environment is transforming rapidly due to climate change. Aerosols' abundance and physicochemical characteristics play a crucial, yet uncertain, role in these changes due to their influence on the surface energy budget through direct interaction with solar radiation and indirectly via cloud formation. Importantly, Arctic aerosol properties are also changing in response to climate change. Despite their importance, year-round measurements of their characteristics are sparse in the Arctic and often confined to lower latitudes at Arctic land-based stations and/or short high-latitude summertime campaigns. Here, we present unique aerosol microphysics and chemical composition datasets collected during the year-long Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition, in the central Arctic. These datasets, which include aerosol particle number concentrations, size distributions, cloud condensation nuclei concentrations, fluorescent aerosol concentrations and properties, and aerosol bulk chemical composition (black carbon, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, chloride, and organics) will serve to improve our understanding of high-Arctic aerosol processes, with relevance towards improved modelling of the future Arctic (and global) climate. Peer reviewed