A warm intrusion in the Arctic causes extreme pollution levels

The polluted warm air-mass photographed on April 15, 2020 by the EPFL researcher. J. Schmale - During the MOSAiC research expedition, conducted in the Arctic pack ice between 2019 and 2020, scientists observed an atmospheric perturbation triggered by the intrusion of a highly polluted warm air-mass. A first study providing further insight into the phenomenon and its potential implications has just been published. Weather instruments installed on the Polarstern icebreaker recorded a huge jump in the near-surface air temperature, from -30.8°C to almost 0°C, between 14 and 17 April 2020. This was a record swing that had never been observed in the central Arctic Ocean within the available weather climatology, starting 40 years ago. The icebreaker was operating under the MOSAiC expedition , which aims to gain a better understanding of the drivers of Arctic accelerated climate change and how it is impacting the region. During the expedition, hundreds of research instruments made millions of real-time measurements, collecting data on biological, chemical and physical properties from the ocean bottom to deep inside clouds.