News

• Campaign movies 29 Sep 2020 - One year ago, unaware of the pandemic that would strike the globe in 2020, the SouthTRAC aircraft campaign took place in Río Grande and El Calafate, Argentina. Since then, data evaluation has been revved up to full intensity, and many instrument groups were able to present interesting preliminary results during a recent (virtual) meeting. This … Continue reading Campaign movies →
• HALO is back in Oberpfaffenhofen – SouthTRAC Campaign is over 28 Nov 2019 - Yesterday evening, 27th November, HALO safely landed in Oberpfaffenhofen after three days of transfer from Rio Grande with stops in Buenos Aires and Sal. All scientific Instruments will be removed from the aircraft in the next days followed by a detailed inspection and maintenance of the aircraft.
• Clear sky for ground-based lidar measurements and ongoing preparations for return to Germany 22 Nov 2019 - Wednesday night, 20th November, the last two radiosonde balloons of the SouthTRAC campaign were released from Rio Grande Airport.The SouhtTRAC team has started the preparations for the return to Germany.
• Airborne lidar ALIMA meets ground-based lidar CORAL 18 Nov 2019 - Third local research flight was successfully completed on Friday, 15th November, and ended with landing in darkness to allow for synchronous measurements of the airborne lidar (ALIMA) and the ground-based lidar (CORAL).
• Antarctic flight, Australian bushfires and Argentina’s IA 63 Pampa jets 15 Nov 2019 - On Tuesday, 12th of November, the second HALO flight of phase 2 was performed. The flight was dedicated to trace gas measurements in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula.
• First local research flight completed and Armada Day in the hangar 11 Nov 2019 - Daily campaign activities are already ongoing at Rio Grande Airbase again. The groups have reactivated their offices in the hangar and rearranged all the equipment which was stored in a container during the campaign’s break. HALO landed safely on 6th November at Rio Grande Airport after a five-day trip from Oberpfaffenhofen.
• Up in the Air again – HALO left Oberpfaffenhofen 2 Nov 2019 - On 2nd Nov 2019, Saturday evening 17:30 local time HALO took off from Oberpfaffenhofen and is now again on its way to Argentina.
• HALO returns home from phase one 9 Oct 2019 - On Wednesday evening at sunset, HALO landed at its home base in Oberpfaffenhofen. The operators on board were tired but happy to be at home (or only a few hours’ train ride away) after three more flights on the way back from Río Grande. Favorable wind conditions even allowed for a little detour further to … Continue reading HALO returns home from phase one →
• Call for proposals by Chilean CONICYT 2 Oct 2019 - The Chilean Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICYT) through its funding programme “Fondequip”, together with the Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH), launched a project contest calling for proposals for research projects using the dataset obtained during the SouthTRAC campaign.
• Soaring Campaign Insights 2: Wave flights with a glider 1 Oct 2019 - Hola a todos! Greetings from the DLR Patagonia Wave Soaring Team from El Calafate! The last couple days we had fantastic wave conditions and our glider pilots flew each day and gathered many hours of measurement data. I had the chance to participate in some of these flights and this campaign insight is about the … Continue reading Soaring Campaign Insights 2: Wave flights with a glider →
• Last balloon soundings and one more upcoming local flight 30 Sep 2019 - The last night flight on Friday was followed by a day flight on Sunday and a subsequent, currently ongoing flight today (Monday). The targets of both flights were polar vortex air and trace gas filaments along a tropospheric trough and in the vicinity of the polar vortex edge.
• First day flight completed and ongoing preparations prior to take-off of last night flight 26 Sep 2019 - On Tuesday, 24th Sept, the first day flight dedicated to southern hemispheric chemistry was successfully performed. The area of interest was south- and eastward of Rio Grande towards 63°S. There aged and chemically processed air was probed in the polar vortex and in the vicinity of the polar vortex edge. The flight was coordinated with … Continue reading First day flight completed and ongoing preparations prior to take-off of last night flight →
• Soaring Campaign Insights 1: Radiosonde launching 22 Sep 2019 - This series of Campaign Insights is written during the DLR Patagonia Wave Soaring campaign in El Calafate, Argentina in Sep/Oct 2019. The measurement campaign coincides with and supports the SOUTHTRAC campaign in Rio Grande, Argentina. The intention of this article is to give insights into this measurement campaign from the perspective of a student. It … Continue reading Soaring Campaign Insights 1: Radiosonde launching →
• Surfing on Mountain Waves – Up and Down above the Southern Andes 19 Sep 2019 - Yesterday night, HALO completed the fourth research flight dedicated to mountain waves above the Southern Andes. Prevailing moderate westerly to south-westerly winds triggered mountain waves and the flight crew could report “nice” up- and downward movements of the aircraft shortly after take-off along the first cross mountain section.
• First local research flight completed 13 Sep 2019 - After sunset on 11th September at 20 p.m. HALO took off from Rio Grande Airport performing the first local research flight. It was the first of six research flights performed during night and mainly focusing on atmospheric gravity waves.
• Transfer completed – HALO arrived in Rio Grande 10 Sep 2019 - It’s a long journey from Central Europe to „the end of the world”. Most of the SouthTRAC participants have been travelling for up to two days using trains, commercial aircraft and rental cars. It was a three-day journey for HALO…
• Busy activities at Rio Grande Airbase 8 Sep 2019 - While HALO successfully made its way from Oberpfaffenhofen to Sal and Buenos Aires, lots of activities were going on in the hangar in Rio Grande in preparation for the arrival of HALO and upcoming research flights.
• HALO set off to Cape Verde 6 Sep 2019 - On time at 0700 UTC (9 o’clock local time in Germany) in a cloudy but dry Bavarian morning, HALO took to the skies and headed south-west for its first interim destination Sal on Cape Verde. The flight today, estimated to take 6.5 hours, marks the beginning of the scientific experiments where all instruments are operational.
• Soaring campaign starts 4 Sep 2019 - The wave soaring campaign by the DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics, accompanying the SouthTRAC campaign from their base in El Calafate at the base of the Andes, will start these days. The first colleagues from DLR arrived on site, along with the Stemme glider.
• Infinite beam 23 Aug 2019 - Late at night on Thursday scientists tested the 532 nm laser of the ALIMA lidar (light detection and ranging). The alignment of the laser emitted through a window on top of the aircraft, as well as the telescope that detects the backscattered photons, were adjusted.
• EMC test flight completed 21 Aug 2019 - On Monday HALO completed the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) test flight. Circling over southwestern Bavaria, all scientific instruments were turned on and checked for potential interference with aircraft control, communication and navigation systems.
• Successful EMC ground test 8 Aug 2019 - HALO’s electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) ground test was completed successfully today. This test is required before the aircraft may lift off for the first time in this instrument configuration in order to perform the airborne EMC test. This flight is currently scheduled for Monday, 19 August 2019.
• First general meeting 6 Aug 2019 - Today has been the first official “general meeting” of the SouthTRAC campaign, bringing together most of the participants involved: scientists, students, technicians, project managers.