German DLR to use aircraft investigate trace gases southern hemisphere

For five weeks later this year, HALO will operate out of Christchurch, New Zealand, carrying out measurement flights over the oceans of the southern hemisphere.

Together with the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, DLR is investigating the interaction between clouds, aerosols and radiation over the Southern Ocean as part of the HALO-South project.

For this, the HALO research aircraft is being used to measure atmospheric particles, trace gases and cloud properties, complementing satellite data.

The HALO (High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft) research aircraft has paved the way for atmospheric research and Earth observation via an airborne aircraft platform. HALO is based on a Gulfstream G550 ultra-long range business jet.

DLRs HALO research aircraft | Photo: DLR

To date, most climate models have been based mainly on data from the northern hemisphere. For the southern hemisphere, more extensive measurements are still lacking – but the HALO-South project aims to close this gap and provide data for more accurate modelling.

For the first time, the research flights will also measure the number of ice nuclei, in parallel with the number of cloud particles. This is crucial to better understand ice multiplication processes and their impact on cloud formation.

The measurements mark the start of a research collaboration between Germany and New Zealand.

For the measurement flights, researchers equipped DLR's HALO research aircraft with five highly sensitive cloud measuring instruments that record the size, number and shape of cloud particles.

"Sensors under the wing and on a windowpane measure particles ranging from approximately one micrometre to six millimetres in size – covering almost the entire size range of natural clouds."