Measurements of aerosol characteristics in three expeditions on board RV “Akademik Mstislav Keldysh”: from the Baltic to Barents Sea

Abstract

We discuss the measurements of aerosol characteristics (aerosol and black carbon concentrations and aerosol optical depth) in 80th cruise of RV Akademik Mstislav Keldysh (August 2020) on the route from the Baltic to Barents Sea. We compare them with results from two previous expeditions (67th and 71st cruises of RV Akademik Mstislav Keldysh) and statistically generalize the data from three marine regions. The average aerosol and black carbon concentrations over the Baltic and North Seas are shown to be a factor of 2-3 larger than over the Arctic seas, i.e., Barents and Norwegian Seas. No significant differences between aerosol characteristics over Arctic seas are revealed. We discuss the average latitude-longitude distributions of aerosol characteristics, calculated on the basis of expedition measurements and MERRA-2 reanalysis data.