Integrated airborne investigation of the air composition over the Russian sector of the Arctic
Authors: Belan Boris D. , Ancellet Gerard , Andreeva Irina S. , Antokhin Pavel N. , Arshinova Viktoria G. , Arshinov Mikhail Y. , Balin Yurii S. , Barsuk Vladimir E. , Belan Sergei B. , Chernov Dmitry G. , Davydov Denis K. , Fofonov Alexander V. , Ivlev Georgii A. , Kotel'nikov Sergei N. , Kozlov Alexander S. , Kozlov Artem V. , Law Katharine , Mikhal'chishin Andrey V. , Moseikin Igor A. , Nasonov Sergei V. , Nédélec Philippe , Okhlopkova Olesya V. , Ol'kin Sergei E. , Panchenko Mikhail V. , Paris Jean-Daniel , Penner Iogannes E. , Ptashnik Igor V. , Rasskazchikova Tatyana M. , Reznikova Irina K. , Romanovskii Oleg A. , Safatov Alexander S. , Savkin Denis E. , Simonenkov Denis V. , Sklyadneva Tatyana K. , Tolmachev Gennadii N. , Yakovlev Semyon V. , Zenkova Polina N. 
Published: July 2022

Abstract. The change of the global climate is most pronounced in
the Arctic, where the air temperature increases 2 to 3 times faster
than the global average. This process is associated with an increase in the
concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. There are publications
predicting the sharp increase in methane emissions into the atmosphere due
to permafrost thawing. Therefore, it is important to study how the air
composition in the Arctic changes in the changing climate. In the Russian
sector of the Arctic, the air composition was measured only in the surface
atmospheric layer at the coastal stations or earlier at the drifting
stations. Vertical distributions of gas constituents of the atmosphere and
aerosol were determined only in a few small regions. That is why the
integrated experiment was carried out to measure the composition of the
troposphere in the entire Russian sector of the Arctic from on board the
Optik Tu-134 aircraft laboratory in the period of ​​​​​​​4 to 17 September of 2020.
The aircraft laboratory was equipped with contact and remote measurement
facilities. The contact facilities were capable of measuring the
concentrations of CO2, CH4, O3, CO, NOx​​​​​​​, and SO2,
as well as the disperse composition of particles in the size range from 3 nm
to 32 µm, black carbon, and organic and inorganic components of
atmospheric aerosol. The remote facilities were operated to measure the
water transparency in the upper layer of the ocean, the chlorophyll content
in water, and spectral characteristics of the underlying surface. The
measured data have shown that the ocean continues absorbing CO2. This
process is most intense over the Barents and Kara seas. The recorded methane
concentration was increased over all the Arctic seas, reaching 2090 ppb in
the near-water layer over the Kara Sea. The contents of other gas components
and black carbon were close to the background level. In bioaerosol, bacteria predominated among the identified microorganisms. In
most samples, they were represented by coccal forms, less often
spore-forming and non-spore-bearing rod-shaped bacteria. No dependence of
the representation of various bacterial genera on the height and the
sampling site was revealed. The most turbid during the experiment was the
upper layer of the Chukchi and Bering seas. The Barents Sea turned out to be
the most transparent. The differences in extinction varied by more than a factor of 1.5. In all measurements, except for the Barents Sea, the tendency of an
increase in chlorophyll fluorescence in more transparent waters was
observed.