The Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) took place as two 3-week aircraft deployments, in spring and summer 2008. It involved the NASA DC-8 as an in situ platform for detailed atmospheric composition. Two other aircraft, the NASA P-3 and the NASA B-200 focused more closely on aerosols and radiation. The P-3 serves as a remote sensing platform generally flying constant altitude transects in the middle to upper troposphere. The B-200 is a profiling aircraft for examining radiative fluxes and in situ aerosol properties. The spring (April 1 – 22) deployment in Fairbanks, Alaska targeted anthropogenic pollution including arctic haze, stratosphere-troposphere exchange, and sunrise photochemistry including halogen radicals. The summer deployment (June 26 – July 14) in Cold Lake, Alberta targeted boreal forest fires, stratosphere-troposphere exchange, and summertime photochemistry.
Science Themes
ARCTAS has four major scientific themes:
- Long-range transport of pollution to the Arctic including arctic haze, tropospheric ozone, and persistent pollutants such as mercury;
- Boreal forest fires and their implications for atmospheric composition and climate;
- Aerosol radiative forcing from arctic haze, boreal fires, surface-deposited black carbon, and other perturbations;
- Chemical processes with focus on ozone, aerosols, mercury, and halogens.
