One AIRBUS A340-600 operated by Lufthansa carries provisions for operation of the IAGOS-CARIBIC Flying Laboratory, a modified cargo container with state-of-the-art instruments for in-situ and remote sensing measurements and provisions for the collection of whole air and aerosol samples.
In-situ measurements include ozone, water vapour, cloud water/ice, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, water isotopologues, nitrogen oxides, mercury, aerosol, soot, volatile organic compounds, and optical measurements of sulfur dioxide and formaldehyde. The whole air samples are analysed in different European laboratories for organic compounds, fluorocarbons and elemental composition of the aerosol samples.
The aircraft has been equipped with a complex inlet probe, which is connected to the instruments inside the container. The probe contains special inlets for accurate sampling of aerosol and chemical species and provisions for optical measurements.
Operation of the container is discontinuous with 10-12 deployments per year, each for four consecutive long-haul flights. The routes cover Europe, America, Africa and Asia, similar to those routes of IAGOS-CORE. For more details about the CARIBIC project please refer to the CARIBIC website.