Variations in optical and microphysical characteristics of atmospheric aerosol in expeditions: Transarctic 2019

We discuss the results of studying the aerosol optical depth (AOD) of the atmosphere and aerosol and black carbon concentrations over the Arctic Ocean and Far East seas in expeditions “Transarctic-2019” onboard RV “Akademik Tryoshnikov” and RV “Professor Multanovskiy”. The lowest aerosol content was observed in April 2019 in the region where RV “Akademik Tryoshnikov” drifted in ice: AOD (0.5 μm) = 0.67; NА ≈ 2 cm-3. The maximal average concentrations of aerosol (8.62 cm-3) and black carbon (179 ng/m3) were obtained in the southern part of the Barents Sea. It is noted that the average aerosol characteristics (and especially AOD) during summer 2019 over Arctic and Far East seas were higher than multiyear data due to outflow of smokes from massive forest fires in Siberia.