Project: AEROPAN Synergetic aerosol remote sensing of Pandora within ACTRIS
Project leader (Poland): dr hab. Iwona S. Stachlewska, prof. ucz.
Project leader (Austria): dr Jochen Wagner
Funding institution: National Science Center (Weave-Unissono)
Realization period: August 1, 2022 - July 31, 2026

The AeroPan (Pandora in ACTRIS) project is carried out in Polish-Austrian cooperation under the NCN Weave-UNISSONO (NCN/FWF) grant by the University of Warsaw (UW) and the Medical University of Innsbruck (MUI). AeroPan is dedicated to the synergistic remote sensing of aerosols and gases in the atmosphere.

The first goal of the project is the novel determination of aerosol optical and microphysical properties with a spectrometer, using sky radiation measurements as input for well-established operational algorithms in an existing photometric aerosol network. The second goal is to recover information on aerosol size and properties with respect to the atmospheric boundary layer and free troposphere.

The work involves extending the measurement range of the Pandora spectrometer from current gas measurements (HCHO, O2, O3, CO2), to include aerosol remote sensing capabilities. Combining the Pandora spectrometer so adapted (NASA-PGN network) with the Cimel solar photometer (NASA-AERONET network) and the PollyXT lidar (EARLINET-ACTRIS network), and the EMORAL lidar (ESA-ESTEC) provides the opportunity for new insights and expansion of studies of the vertical distribution of aerosol properties.

Research within the framework of AeroPan will be carried out both in the alpine environment (Innsbruck) and in the Mazovian Lowlands (Warsaw). The project, planned for four years, will include a minimum of two measurement campaigns. Measurements will be conducted from observation platforms in Austria and Poland, at exactly the same time and using the same set of measurement instruments. Measurement results will be analyzed using the GRASP model.

The grant is implemented by: Iwona Stachlewska (UW), Łucja Janicka (UW), Dominika Szczepanik (UW), Axel Kreuter (MUI), Jochen Wagner (MUI), and PhD students Marie Stöckhardt (MUI), Emeka Ugboma (UW).

Four projects win funding under Weave-UNISONO (ncn.gov.pl)

AeroPan_abstract (ncn.gov.pl)