The TEAMx Observational Campaign is an ambitious, international effort to understand the atmosphere dynamics in complex mountain terrain. Coordinated by the University of Innsbruck, the campaign brings together dozens of partner institutions from across Europe and beyond. This network of scientists and engineers use in-situ and remote sensing instruments at ground stations as well as instrumentation on drones and aircrafts. Their common goal: to capture, in unprecedented detail, the exchanges of energy, momentum, moisture, and pollutants in and around mountain valleys – especially how these processes unfold differently than in flat terrain. Data collection in the European Alps started in September 2024, with target areas in the Inn Valley (Austria), the Adige Valley (Italy), the Alpine Crest, and the Alpine Foreland in Germany.

Technology and Collaboration – A Year in the Mountains

The observational campaign spans a full year to capture the seasonal variability of mountain weather and climate in the four core regions. The TEAMx campaign is not just notable for its scientific scope – it is also a logistical and technological feat. Across the participating countries, nearly 40 measurement sites are contributing to a shared data archive. State-of-the-art technologies are providing continuous coverage of the atmospheric boundary layer and beyond.

Aerosol quantification and characterization is a key aspect of atmospheric boundary layer observations. Aerosol particles in the atmosphere directly affect how sunlight is transmitted through the atmosphere (absorption, scattering), and in dependence of their size and composition they act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) responsible for cloud formation and brightness, thus affecting weather and climate. Particulate matter (PM) in the air is a pollutant and can be detrimental to human health, animals and ecosystems. 

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is responsible for characterizing the aerosol composition. KITcube is the integrated atmospheric observation system of KIT, and for the TEAMx observational campaign it is located at a measurement site in the vicinity of Bozen, IT.

Alongside instruments providing data for concentration and size distribution of the ambient aerosol an IONICON CHARON FUSION PTR-TOF analyzes the chemical composition of the aerosol particles. The particle composition, provided by this high-end PTR-TOF analyzer, allows to assign different sources of aerosol production and therefore is fundamental for understanding the underlying processes.

Enhancing Forecasts Through Data

The primary goal of TEAMx is to enhance the accuracy of weather and climate models in mountainous areas. Despite substantial progress in numerical modeling over several decades, many crucial atmospheric processes are still inadequately represented when applied to complex terrain. TEAMx aims to rectify this by offering a comprehensive, high-resolution dataset designed for evaluating and refining current models.

Explore more research applications of PTR-TOF.