The start of our Alaskan aerosol field campaign!

The Pratt Lab has started our Department of Energy Early Career & ARM field campaign APUN (Aerosols during the Polar Utqiaġvik Night; apun means 'snow on ground' in Iñupiaq)! Significant delays in fall sea ice freeze-up in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas are reducing winter sea ice extent and resulting in thinning sea ice prone to fracturing. However, the majority of recent Arctic aerosol observations have been made through intensive spring/summer field campaigns, with few measurements in the fall-winter. This observational gap is limiting our understanding of the spatial and temporal variability in the Arctic aerosol population, as recognized by current international efforts focused on improving understanding and prediction of the Polar Regions (e.g., Year of Polar Prediction, International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project activity CATCH (Cryosphere and Atmospheric Chemistry)). The APUN field campaign will improve our understanding of atmospheric aerosol sources, composition, and processes during the early Polar night. Pratt Lab PhD student Jamy Lee and post-doc Jun Liu are working hard to get our instruments ready to start sampling on the Arctic tundra!