Exceptional warm air intrusions and omnipresent aerosol layers in the stratosphere

A Leipzig research project has gained new insights into clouds in Antarctica .

The vertical distribution of aerosol particles and clouds in the atmosphere above the German Neumayer Station III was investigated from the ground for the first time.

The height-resolved measurements were the first of their kind in Queen Maud Land.

OCEANET was supplied with power from the research station, where the researcher from Leipzig also lived and spent a year making sure that all the devices measured without interruption.

The lidar measurements provided an insight into how many particles are floating above this part of Antarctica and at which altitudes.

Aerosol in the stratosphere has an influence on the occurrence of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs).

Warm air from lower latitudes could intensify climate change in Antarctica .

During a warm spell, the temperature rose to -2.3 degrees Celsius on 6 July 2023 .

This is the highest temperature recorded in July at the German Antarctic Neumayer Station since 1982 .

The researchers hope to gain new insights into why the clouds in the far south differ so much from those in the northern hemisphere.