The A-LIFE field experiment in the Eastern Mediterannean

A‐LIFE: flight overview (click on number/first column for flight tracks)
#FlightTake-off [UTC]Landing [UTC]Objective
0128.03.201709:00:47
Oberpfaff. (DE)
11:57:18
Oberpfaff. (DE)
Test flight #1; dust sampling over France and Germany
02*31.03.201707:35:42
Oberpfaff. (DE)
10:43:59
Oberpfaff. (DE)
Test flight #2; comparison of pollution levels over two major European cities (Munich, Vienna) in contrast with the tropospheric background site mount Sonnblick GAW Observatory
0303.04.201706:08:30
Oberpfaff. (DE)
09:01:59
Cagliari (IT)
Transfer flight Oberpfaffenhofen – Cagliari; in‐situ profiling over mount Sonnblick GAW Observatory, Genua and Sardinia (aged dust)
04*03.04.201712:38:03
Cagliari (IT)
15:49:47
Paphos (CY)
Transfer flight Cagliari – Paphos; dust ahead of a low -pressure system; in‐situ profiling near Crete
0505.04.201708:50:01
Paphos (CY)
12:08:09
Paphos (CY)
Middle East/Arabian dust, cloud‐free conditions
0606.04.201704:30:27
Paphos (CY)
08:05:57
Paphos (CY)
Middle East/Arabian (low altitudes) & Saharan dust (higher altitudes), cloud‐free conditions
0711.04.201705:04:10
Paphos (CY)
08:56:45
Paphos (CY)
Dust in the Cyprus area before trough passage; „pattern cloud“; heavily polluted atmosphere at 2000ft over the sea south of Cyprus
0811.04.201709:56:35
Paphos (CY)
12:59:01
Paphos (CY)
Dust in the Cyprus area before trough passage
0913.04.201708:27:31
Paphos (CY)
11:46:42
Paphos (CY)
Dust embedded in clouds, ice formation at high temps; heavy pollution at low altitudes over the sea south of Cyprus; polluted dust down to the ground
1014.04.201704:07:35
Paphos (CY)
07:58:23
Heraklion (GR)
Dust and pollution sampling over Crete; lidar flight Cyprus – Crete; in‐situ profiling over Finokalia before landing; indications for vertical mixing inside the dust layer; dust gradient with dust surge east of Crete
1114.04.201709:03:58
Heraklion (GR)
12:24:40
Paphos (CY)
Dust and pollution sampling over Crete; in‐situ & lidar flight with W‐E profiling over Finokalia; dust gradient with dust surge east of Crete
12*19.04.201709:58:52
Paphos (CY)
13:56:52
Malta (MT)
Beginning of a Saharan dust outbreak which moved eastwards; lidar flight Cyprus – Malta with vertical in‐situ profiling in the Malta region
13*19.04.201715:10:26
Malta (MT)
19:06:37
Paphos (CY)
Beginning of a Saharan dust outbreak which moved eastwards; in‐situ profiling after take‐off in Malta; chasing of dust‐impacted clouds near Malta
14*20.04.201710:06:17
Paphos (CY)
13:34:59
Heraklion (GR)
Cyprus – Crete: maximum of the Saharan dust outbreak; coordinated measurements with Crete
1520.04.201714:40:23
Heraklion (GR)
18:33:30
Paphos (CY)
Crete – Cyprus: maximum of the Saharan dust outbreak, chasing of dust-impacted clouds near/over Crete in the cloud top layer; aerosol‐cloud interaction
1621.04.201711:48:30
Paphos (CY)
16:01:13
Paphos (CY)
Dust sampling west and south‐west of Cyprus: end of Saharan dust outbreak
1722.04.201706:07:01
Paphos (CY)
09:26:15
Paphos (CY)
Dust sampling south of Cyprus: end of Saharan dust outbreak
1825.04.201708:03:40
Paphos (CY)
10:20:25
Paphos (CY)
Sampling of pollution from Turkey and the Black Sea west and north‐west of Cyprus
1926.07.201712:06:05
Paphos (CY)
14:39:49
Paphos (CY)
Arabian and Sahran dust outbreak; Saharan dust mainly in the western part of the flight pattern, Arabian dust in the south‐eastern part of the flight pattern
2027.04.201707:13:15
Paphos (CY)
10:18:11
Paphos (CY)
Arabian and Sahran dust outbreak (same flight pattern as on the day before); boundary of Arabian dust between Paphos and Limassol during take‐off
21*29.04.201707:06:29
Paphos (CY)
10:34:11
Heraklion (GR)
Transfer flight Cyprus – Crete; Saharan dust outbreak, coordinated measurements with Crete
2229.04.201711:42:25
Heraklion (GR)
14:48:26
Oberpfaff. (DE)
Transfer flight Crete – Oberpfaffenhofen; flight on the back side of a low-pressure system

* Flights with CALIPSO overpasses

Funding:

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 640458 (A‐LIFE). In addition, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) provided funding for a significant amount of flight hours and aircraft allocation days for the A-LIFE aircraft field experiment. Furthermore, two EUFAR projects were clustered with A‐LIFE and provided funding for 16 flight hours. Moreover, various groups participated in the A‐LIFE field experiment on their own funding.

Partners:

A‐LIFE involves partners from several European countries and the U.S. including the University of Vienna (UNIVIE, Austria), the German Aerospace Center (DLR, Germany), Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS, Germany), Ludwig‐ Maximilians‐Universität (LMU, Germany), University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Boku, Vienna, Austria), Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany), University of Valladolid (Spain), EnviTech (Budapest, Hungary), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, USA), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, Germany), TU Vienna (TU Wien, Austria), Austrian Weather Service (ZAMG, Austria), National Observatory of Athens (NOA, Greece), University of Crete (Greece), Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus), University of Hertfordshire (UK), The Cyprus Institute (Cyprus), Institute of Physics Belgrade (Serbia).

We would like to thank EDT Hangar Services for hosting us during the A‐LIFE field phase in Paphos (Cyprus).