Flights above and towards Hyytiälä

On Monday we flew with the Nucleation Package to the Hyytiälä site. The Zeppelin left the mast at 7:30 and flew above the mission area until noon, until gusts forced the Zeppelin to return. The predicted nucleation event happened just when we were about to depart from Hyytiälä as we could observe both from the instruments on the Zeppelin and the measurement station. In the morning, the atmosphere showed some layering as observed in Italy (Science at Sunrise). As in Italy the layers were mixed during the day.

To further examine the chemistry of the different atmospheric layers we equipped the Zeppelin with the photochemistry layout for the Tuesday flight. However, we had gust of up to 30 knots, so the Zeppelin had to return after a rather short flight of 25 minutes. Again, instruments were removed and the Zeppelin ‘flies’ on the mast.

Tomorrow’s forecasts predict again a particle event, so probably we will start again with the nucleation package.