sciavalue flight track click on the image for larger version
Within the SCIAVALUE Project, DLR's atmospheric research aircraft Falcon 20 performed two main campaigns in September 2002 and February 2003, respectively. Both campaigns consisted of large-scale latitudinal cross sections from the polar regions to the tropics as well as longitudinal cross section at polar latitudes at about 70°N.
On-board were three instruments: AMAXDOAS, ASUR, and OLEX. AMAXDOAS has similarities to SCIAMACHY because it measures the radiance reaching the Falcon from a selected set of viewing angles. It is an experiment developed jointly by the University of Bremen and the University of Heidelberg. It retrieves tropospheric and stratospheric columns of key gases (O3, NO2, BrO, and OClO) inverted from SCIAMACHY measurements.
The Airborne SUbmillimeter wave Radiometer (ASUR) is a passive microwave sensor operated on board an aircraft flying near the tropopause. Using an up-looking geometry thermal radiation originating from rotational emission lines of stratospheric trace gases is measured in the frequency range from 604 to 662 GHz (approx. 0.45 to 0.5 mm). Within this range key species of the stratospheric ozone chemistry, like ClO, HCl, HNO3, the dynamical tracers N2O and CH3Cl, as well as water vapour and ozone can be detected. From the pressure broadening of the spectral lines vertical profiles of volume mixing ratios are retrieved over an altitude range from 15 to 65 km.
The Ozone Lidar EXperiment (OLEX) measures the atmospheric backscatter at four wavelengths 308, 355, 532, and 1064 nm with the additional capability to measure the cross-polarised return at 532 nm for particle phase discrimination. In the zenith looking mode the system provides high resolution two-dimensional cross sections of ozone number densities, aerosol extinction, and cirrus cloud cover information from about 2 km above aircraft flight level up to a height of 30 km.
AMAXDOAS was a joined effort by the Universities of Heidelberg and Bremen, ASUR was build at the Bremen, and OLEX was operated by Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, DLROberpfaffenhofen.
