HALO – a joint project
The HALO research aircraft is a joint initiative involving
German environmental and climate research institutions.
HALO is supported by grants from the Federal Ministry
for Education and Research (BMBF), the German Science
Foundation (DFG), the Helmholtz Association (HGF),
the Max Planck Society (MPG), the Leibniz Association,
the Free State of Bavaria, the Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology (KIT), the German Research Centre for
Geosciences in Potsdam (GFZ), the Jülich Research
Centre and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
The Southern Ocean, covered by ice to the
horizon. The crew is fascinated by the
view from HALO’s windows.
The HALO research aircraft at Cape Verde during one of the few
stopovers during the measurement mission
To the Antarctic and
back – in ten days
The HALO (High Altitude and LOng Range) research aircraft, which was handed over for science operations in
August 2012, has returned from its first long-distance mission. To validate global climate models, HALO completed
measurement flights in the northern and southern polar regions, from the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen to
the edge of the Antarctic continent, in just 10 days. Managed by DLR, a team of 40 scientists and engineers from
Helmholtz centres and universities studied the distribution of trace gases and specific transport processes in the
atmosphere. As part of the ESMVal (Earth System Model Validation) measurement campaign, cross-continental
sequences of measurements were made and observations carried out from ground level up to an altitude of 15
kilometres in the troposphere and lower stratosphere.
10 September 2012, Oberpfaffenhofen
08:00 local time:
Filled to the ceiling of the cabin with
scientific equipment, HALO sits on the runway with engines
running. The rising noise of the engines disrupts the sunny
morning as DLR’s Gulfstream 550, D-ADLR, sets off towards the
southern hemisphere; or, to put it more precisely, towards the
southern polar region – on its first intercontinental measure-
ment campaign. The crew, together with the scientists and
engineers, face a 10-day journey with some 65 hours of flying.
Ten days that will be technically and physically demanding,
during which they will travel to Cape Town via the Cape Verde
Islands.
The first stage of the scientific measurements begins after
a test flight in Oberpfaffenhofen. The tranquillity in the cockpit
is deceptive; weeks of preparations, from planning the flight-
paths and discussions with scientists through to technical
briefings, are now behind the cockpit crew. The success of the
mission depends not least on their skills. In three days, things
will get serious.
13 September 2012, Cape Town
03:45 local time:
The first group gathers in the foyer of
the Park Inn Hotel for the trip to the international airport. This
team is about to prepare the instruments for the flight into the
southern polar region. The flight crew will leave two hours later.
It is still winter in Cape Town, and heavy rain is falling as they
leave the hotel. There are numerous anxious glances at the sky;
hopefully the rain will ease up before take-off. If the air inlets
and optical windows for the instruments on HALO get wet
during take-off, problems with ice could occur at high altitude,
rendering the measurement results unusable. Once at the
Long haul with HALO
By Hans Schlager, Steffen Gemsa and Andreas Schütz
FEATURE
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