About

Welcome to the CAFE-Africa campaign of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. CAFE-Africa stands for Chemistry of the Atmosphere – Field Experiment in Africa, a HALO mission coordinated by the Atmospheric Chemistry Department of the Institute.

Objectives of the mission are to study

– biomass burning emissions from Africa,
– long-distance air pollution transport over the Atlantic,
– ozone and radical chemistry: sources and sinks,
– oxidation capacity of cleans vs. polluted marine atmosphere,
– chemical aging of gases and aerosols by oxidation processes,
– oxidation products and reaction intermediates from VOX degradation,
– contraining models: effects on air quality and climate.

In order to address these objectives the scientific payload will include a multitude of state-of-the-art in-situ and remote sensing instruments for the measurements of trace gases including radicals (OH, HO2, ROx), nitrogen oxides (NO, HONO, HNO3, PAN, NOy), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), partially oxidized volatile organic compounds (OVOCs, e.g., aldehydes, ketones and peroxides), reactive tracers (SO2, CO, CH4), ozone and aerosols.

The mission will be conducted out of Sal on the Cape Verde Islands from August 06 until September 07, 2018.