Transit cruise from Punta Arenas to Las Palmas

The voyage started with clear sight and calm sea. In this region you often have strong winds due to low pressure areas over the South American continent. Fortunately the ship and its crew were spared. After few fog patches, the trip was mostly sunny with daily rising temperatures, which invite to take look on deck on the wide Atlantic to watch a few dolphins and flying fish, if you are lucky, and also to enjoy the beautiful sunsets in different reds and the southern stars.

To determine reference values for the remote sensing of aerosol properties and water vapor content measurements will be carried out with Microtops during this leg for the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg.  The directly incident sunlight is analyzed for its spectral distribution. Bay means of the known absorption bands of aerosols and water vapor, they may draw conclusions about the distribution in the air column.

Following the suggestion of the operator of the European weather satellite, EUMETSAT, the EUMETrain project was launched some years ago. This is a virtual classroom with the aim of training especially meteorologists in the use of satellite data. On the one hand, modules for self-study are available, on the other hand there are always courses on different topics, some of which take place online, some partly in the classroom. Parallel to PS105, the colleagues from the Portuguese Weather Service are conducting a course in maritime weather forecasting. In order to show participants the practical benefits of their lessons learnt, reports are published in a regular blog from board, which can be accessed via the EUMETSAT website. In addition, an archive of on-board weather data is created, which is to be worked out to another learning module after the journey.

On this leg, the ISOTAM team from the University of Göttingen is continuing the air-chemical measurements of PS102 and PS103. On all of the three cruise legs air particles are sampled with filter systems and impactors. The object of study is gaseous ammonia and ammonium aerosol. Subsequently, the filters are tested for concentrations and N isotopes. The sources of ammonia and ammonium can be determined by means of the determination of isotope concentrations. How do the concentrations differ on the composition of the air depending on the degree of latitude under the influence of the different continents ? What role does the ocean play? What is the exchange between the atmosphere above the ocean and surface water? Does it absorb ammonium and is a sink, or does it release ammonium, and is thus a source? How is the exchange when the ocean is covered with ice?