International Foundation High Altitude Research Stations Jungfraujoch + Gornergrat HFSJG Activity Report 2015 International Foundation High Altitude Research Stations Jungfraujoch + Gornergrat HFSJG Sidlerstrasse 5 CH-3012 Bern / Switzerland Telephone +41 (0)31 631 4052 URL: http://www.hfsjg.ch February 2016 International Foundation HFSJG Activity Report 2015 Table of contents Message of the President i Report of the Director iii High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch Statistics on research days 2015 ....................................................................................... 1 Long-term experiments and automatic measurements ............................................................. 3 Activity reports: . The weather in 2015: report for the International Foundation HFSJG (Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, MeteoSwiss, Switzerland) ................... 6 . High resolution, solar infrared Fourier Transform Spectrometry. Application to the study of the Earth atmosphere (Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, Belgium) ................. 12 . Atmospheric physics and chemistry (Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy BIRA-IASB, Belgium) ....................................... 20 . The Global Atmosphere Watch Aerosol Program at Jungfraujoch (Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland) ................ 24 . Field measurements of aerosols acting as ice nucleating particles and their influence on mixed-phase clouds (Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, ETH Zürich, Switzerland) .................. 31 . Interactions between aerosols and rain clouds as a function of aerosol type and source (The Institute of Earth Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) ........................ 38 . Ice residual characterization during the Cloud and Aerosol Characterization Experiment (CLACE) (Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland)………….41 . Biological ice nucleators at tropospheric cloud height (Departement Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Basel, Switzerland) ........................... 44 . Stable isotopes in plant wax aerosols (Department of Environmental Sciences, Botany, University of Basel) ........................... 46 . Comprehensive Radiation Flux Assessment (CRUX) (Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos, World Radiation Center, Switzerland) ...................................................................................................................... 48 . Global Atmosphere Watch Radiation Measurements (Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, MeteoSwiss, Switzerland) ................. 51 . Assessment of high altitude aerosol and cloud characteristics, cirrus climatology (Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, Switzerland) ................... 53 . National Air Pollution Monitoring Network (NABEL) (Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Switzerland) ...................................................................................................................... 55 . Continuous measurement of stable CO2 isotopes at Jungfraujoch (Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Switzerland) ...................................................................................................................... 62 . High precision carbon dioxide and oxygen measurements at Jungfraujoch (Climate and Environmental Division, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland) ...................................................................................................................... 64 . Flask comparison on Jungfraujoch (Max Planck Institut für Biogeochemie, Jena, Germany) ................................................. 69 . Flask comparison on Jungfraujoch (Centre for Isotope Research (CIO), Groningen, The Netherlands) ................................. 71 International Foundation HFSJG Activity Report 2015 . Isotopic composition of N2O at Jungfraujoch (Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Switzerland) ...................................................................................................................... 73 . Halogenated greenhouse gases at Jungfraujoch (Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Switzerland) ...................................................................................................................... 76 . System and performance audit for the Jungfraujoch ICOS atmospheric station (Finnish Meteorological Institute) .................................................................................... 80 . SwissQuick: Emissions and imissions of atmospheric mercury in Switzerland (Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zürich, Switzerland) ................................................................................................. 82 . Baseline characterisation of air masses using radon-222 (Departement Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Basel, Switzerland) ........................... 84 14 . Long-term observations of CO2 at Jungfraujoch (Institut für Umweltphysik, Universität Heidelberg, Germany) ....................................... 86 . 85Kr activity determination in tropospheric air (Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz, Freiburg i.Br., Germany / Climate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Switzerland) ............................................... 88 . Study of solar and galactic cosmic rays (Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bern, Switzerland) ................................................... 90 . Aerosol radioactivity monitoring RADAIR and DIGITEL (Bundesamt für Gesundheit, Sektion Umweltradioaktivität, Switzerland) ....................... 93 . Test for a new concept of an EAS detector for UHE neutrinos (Department of Physics, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy) .................................. 101 . Development and scientific application of nuclear emulsion particle detectors to geological problems in 3D (Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern / Laboratory for High Energy Physics, University of Bern) ............................................................................... 105 . Glaciological investigations on the Grosser Aletschgletscher (Versuchsanstalt für Wasserbau, Hydrologie und Glaziologie, VAW, ETH Zürich, Switzerland) ............................................................................................... 107 . Swiss Permafrost Monitoring Network PERMOS (Department of Geography, University of Zürich, Switzerland) .................................... 109 . Influences of the snowcover on thermal processes in steep permafrost rockwalls. Long-term permafrost monitoring (WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Switzerland) .......................... 111 . Analysis of bacterial communities in fresh surface snow from Alpine regions (Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia) ......................... 113 . Test for an improved speed sensor for railway ETCS application (HaslerRail AG, Switzerland) ......................................................................................... 115 . Performance of Methanol fuel cells in alpine environments (armasuisse S + T, Test Centre, Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport DDPS) .................................................................................. 118 . Long-term study on the efficiency of photovoltaic installations at high altitudes (Bern University of Applied Sciences BFH, Photovoltaic Laboratory, Switzerland) ..... 120 . Effects of remote preconditioning on severity and incidence of acute mountain sickness at 3450 m (Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital Salzburg, Paracelsus Medical University, Austria) ........................................................................................... 126 International Foundation HFSJG Activity Report 2015 . Correlation of blood gas analysis at 3454 m with symptoms of acute mountain sickness – ongoing study (Pneumologie, Medizinische Fakultät der Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany) ....................................................................................................... 128 . Operation of an automatic weather station – infrastructure renewal (Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, MeteoSwiss, Switzerland) ............... 130 . Photographic site visitation to Jungfraujoch for educational outreach (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Denver / Mt. Evans High-altitude Observatory and Chamberlin Observatory, USA) .................................... 132 High Altitude Research Station Gornergrat Statistics on research days 2015 ........................................................................................... 134 Activity reports: . Stellarium Gornergrat (Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Switzerland) ........................... 135 . SONTEL - Solar Neutron Telescope for the identification and the study of high-energy neutrons produced in energetic eruptions at the sun (Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bern, Switzerland) ................................................. 140 The International Foundation HFSJG in the news ......................................................... 141 Publications ......................................................................................................................... 144 Index of research groups / institutes ................................................................................