OPTAIR - Antarctica
Optical properties of aeolian dust in Antarctica
OPTAIR is a multidisciplinary project funded by the Italian Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), for installing and operating at Dome C an instrument for characterizing optical properties of aeolian dust. The aim of the project is to determine and study the optical properties of airborne dust at Concordia Station and to assess on an experimental basis the relationship among the particles suspended in air and deposited on ground.
The instrument is based on the recent Single Particle and Scattering (SPES) method. It has been installed in november 2018 and to work continuously for years.
During the XXXV expedition, december 2019, I installed an updated instrument to guarantee continuous measurements even in case of failures.
The project and very preliminary results have been presented to the 106 SIF conference, held online sept 2020: