On 22nd July 2015 the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry in cooperation with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will start the unique research mission OMO (Oxidation Mechanism Observations) from the Cypriot coastal town of Paphos.
According to a press release by the German Embassy in Nicosia, with the aim to get better forecasts of the air quality and the climate change in the future, the research mission OMO will analyze the changes of selfpurification in the atmosphere with regard to the influence of Asian monsoons.
Professor Dr. Jos Lelieveld, scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute and since 2008 Professor at the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia, and his 65-strong team of atmospheric researchers are carrying out the research mission.
In total they plan a trip of 100.000 kilometers and 120 hours of flight.
The special research airplane HALO (High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft) will start from Cyprus to do analysis above the Arab peninsula and the Arab sea. The measurements which are mainly taken in the troposphere and the lower stratosphere, allow the team to analyze the ozone chemistry and the exchange of air pollutants.
Following, the airplane, its crew and the team will head to Male on the Maldives to analyze the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean and the Bay of the Bengal. Before the researchers and the airplane are returning to Germany, the mission will stop again in Cyprus for a few days in August.
“The German Embassy in Nicosia wishes a successful mission and a good flight to Prof. Levieveld and his team who kindly introduced the HALO airplane and the project to members of the Embassy”, the press release ends.