ACCLIP-TEST: Asian Summer Monsoon Chemical and Climate Impact Project - Test

Summary

The test phase for the ACCLIP project was performed in January and February 2020 out of the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (RMMA) in Broomfield, CO. The NSF/NCAR GV was flown with a partial payload to test the operational capabilities of the instruments onboard, in the context of supporting the main project described below.

The Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) is the largest meteorological pattern in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer season. Persistent convection and the large anticyclonic flow pattern in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) associated with ASM produces a prominent enhancement of chemical species of pollution and biomass burning origins in the UTLS. The monsoon convection occurs over South, Southeast, and East Asia, a region of uniquely complex and rapidly changing emissions tied to both its high population density and significant economic growth. The coupling of the most polluted boundary layer on Earth to the largest dynamical system in the summer season through the deep monsoon convection has the potential to create significant chemical and climate impacts. An accurate representation of the ASM transport, chemical and microphysical processes in chemistry-climate models is much needed for characterizing ASM chemistry-climate interactions and for predicting its future impact in a changing climate.