Oliver Eppers

Contact:

Institute for Atmospheric Physics

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Joh.-Joachim-Becherweg 21
55099 Mainz
Germany

Fon: +49-(0)6131-39-23527
Email: oleppers@uni-mainz.de
Room: 05-263 (543)

PhD student in the group Airborne Measurements and UTLS Transport Processes, headed by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Peter Hoor.

Research Interests

Influence of anthropogenic and biogenic emissions on aerosol and cloud properties

Research Tools

Airborne Measurement data (ACLOUD 2017, PAMARCMIP 2018), lagrangian analysis tools (LAGRANTO, FLEXPART)

Research in a nutshell

The knowledge of aerosol properties in the Arctic is crucial for understanding the aerosol impact on Arctic Amplification. Aerosol particles affect the radiative budget directly and indirectly via cloud formation. Due to low particle concentration during summer compared to the winter even small emissions of particles and precursor gases can have a strong impact on the aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions. The warming environment leads to a drastically sea ice reduction which uncover further marine particle sources. On the other hand, the access to new inner-Arctic shipping routes and increasing industrial activities in the Arctic can increase the amount of anthropogenic pollution particles.

To investigate the influence of anthropogenic and biogenic emissions on aerosol and cloud properties in the Arctic, we conduct aircraft measurements in the polar region. Using the single particle aerosol mass spectrometer "ALABAMA" from the Max-Planck-institute for Chemistry (MPIC) in Mainz, particle size and chemical composition of single particles in the range of 0.2 – 2.5 µm are investigated. Simultaneous measurements of trace gases such as CO, CO2 ,H2O and O3 support the identification of different air masses. In particular, we use CO and CO2 to differentiate between polluted and non-polluted air masses.