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Published September 21, 2023 | Version v1
Conference proceeding Open

An Overview of the ASKOS Campaign in Cabo Verde

Authors/Creators

  • 1. National Observatory of Athens
  • 2. ROR icon Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  • 3. ROR icon National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • 4. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Fakultät für Physik
  • 5. ROR icon Harokopio University of Athens
  • 6. World radiation center
  • 7. ROR icon Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research
  • 8. National Institute for Research and Development in Optoelectronics
  • 9. ROR icon National Institute of Research and Development for Optoelectronics
  • 10. ROR icon Cyprus Institute
  • 11. The Cyprus Institute
  • 12. ROR icon University of Nova Gorica
  • 13. ROR icon University of Reading
  • 14. ROR icon Technical University of Darmstadt

Description

In the framework of the ESA-NASA Joint Aeolus Tropical Atlantic Campaign (JATAC), the
ASKOS experiment was implemented during the summer and autumn of 2021 and 2022. ASKOS
comprised roughly 9 weeks of measurements in the Saharan dust outflow towards the North Atlantic,
with operations conducted from the Cabo Verde Islands. Through its unprecedented dataset of
synergistic measurements in the region, ASKOS will allow for the calibration and validation of
the aerosol/cloud product from Aeolus and the preparation of the terrain for EarthCARE cal/val
activities. Moreover, ASKOS marks a turning point in our ability to study Saharan dust properties and
the processes affecting its atmospheric transport, as well as the link to other components of the Earth’s
system, such as the effect of dust particles on cloud formation over the Eastern Atlantic and the effect
of large and giant particles on radiation. This is possible through the synergy of diverse observations
acquired during the experiment, which include intense 24/7 ground-based aerosol, cloud, wind,
and radiation remote sensing measurements, and UAV-based aerosol in situ measurements within
the Saharan air layer, up to 5.3 km altitude, offering particle size-distributions up to 40 μm as well
as sample collection for mineralogical analysis. We provide an outline of the novel measurements
along with the main scientific objectives of ASKOS. The campaign data will be publicly available by
September of 2023 through the EVDC portal (ESA Validation Data Center).

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Additional details

Funding

European Commission
PANGEA4CalVal - PANGEA Cal/Val center for enhancing Earth Observation R&I in the Mediterranean 101079201

References