Arctic Station Dirigibile Italia

Biogenic Aerosol, oceanic Primary production and Nucleation Events in the Arctic (BioAPNEA)

Call year: 2019 Status: active IADC_id: 152

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BioAPNEA project aims at improving the knowledge of the ocean-atmosphere interconnection by the investigation of the link between measured primary production, sea ice melting, gaseous DMS and aerosol MSA atmospheric concentration and occurrence of New Particle Formation (NPF) events. In this project we combine in situ marine seawater sampling and measurements in Kongsfiorden with atmospheric measurements and sampling at Ny-Ålesund (Gruvebadet and Zeppelin).rnDymethyl sulphide (DMS) is produced by marine phytoplankton and it is related to the physiological state of the cells, increasing under stressed conditions, such as nutrient-limitation and Fe-limitation.rnOnce in atmosphere, DMS is oxidized to sulphate and methanesulfonate (MSA). These oxidised sulphur compounds can directly act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) or increase the hygroscopicity of already formed particles, enhancing their capability to form CCN, exerting a negative (mitigation) feedback on solar irradiation.rnMSA also serves ad a tracer for aerosol oceanic sources and changes in MSA may reflect changes in the availability of such sources.rnSo the project aims to combine surface measurements of atmospheric gaseous DMS and MSA concentrations in PM10 with measurements of Chl-a and primary production, focusing on the effects on parameters related to biogenic production, and to the variations in sea ice extent (SIE) and its melting dynamics.rnAll the field activities will be carried out in May when the maximum concentration of DMS and MSA occurs, on the basis of previous results. The dataset that will be produced in the framework of this project is short in time (about 31 days) but a large number of parameters will be measured contemporaneously.rnThe main measured parameters are: rn-irradiance in the PAR spectral range and the behaviour of the PAR actinic flux at surface, in the air-sea interface, and under water, in order to estimate the primary production; rn-determination of phytoplanktonic biomass, chlorophyll-a concentration, phytoplankton absorption coefficients; rn-suspended particulate, pigments, macronutrients, Fe and other oligo elements in sea water; rn-photosynthetic performance of phytoplankton surface assemblages; rn-gaseous DMS at Zeppelin station; rn-MSA and nssSO42- in PM10 sampled at Gruvebadet and their size distribution in the range 0.05 to 10 ?m;rn-comparison between trace metals (in particular Fe and other oligo elements) in seawater and in PM10 sampled at Gruvebadet;rn-aerosol size distribution in the sub-micrometric fraction (10-500 nm) of atmospheric aerosol at Gruvebadet and the number of nucleation events during the field campaign.rnNew information on the correlation and factors affecting NPF events in relation with biogenic aerosol formation and sea ice parameters (melting and ice marginal zone extent) will be useful for interpreting long term DMS and MSA trend and their connection with global change and “Arctic amplification”.rnThe latter result is of particular relevance in the framework of the SIOS observing system as it takes advantage of long-term observatory data to interpret change in the Arctic environment.  Moreover, it will allow to design new strategies to fill current knowledge gaps and to propose future prioritisation in optimising the observing system.

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Biogenic Aerosol, oceanic Primary production and Nucleation Events in the Arctic (BioAPNEA)