Remote sensing of clouds with MSG/SEVIRI (Meteosat Second Generation). Clockwise for each quarter of the disk and starting at the upper right the figure shows: Colour composite, cloud optical thickness, reflected shortwave irradiance, effective droplet radius.
Clouds and aerosol are definitely among the most important atmospheric constituents affecting the Earth’s radiation budget. An imbalance in the Earth’s radiation budget can cause climate to heat up or cool down. The goal of the research group “Remote sensing of the atmosphere” is to contribute to a better understanding of the temporal evolution of cloud and aerosol properties as well as to their impact on the radiation budget. To this end we investigate the life cycle of clouds, from their formation until their dissipation, and aerosol transport using satellite remote sensing instruments. For an accurate evaluation and interpretation of these data we complement them with in situ and remote sensing measurements from airborne campaigns.
Our current research topics are:
The investigation of the life cycle of ice cloud properties and the associated physical processes that determine them, with a particular focus on convective cirrus clouds and air traffic induced contrails and contrail cirrus
The investigation of cloud-aerosol-radiation interactions and their impact on climate
The detection, quantification and nowcasting of volcanic ash contaminated areas using satellite observations for an efficient and safe air traffic management
The exploitation of the spatial and temporal variability of clouds for an improved determination of UV radiation at the surface
Our main tools are:
Cloud classification methods and remote sensing algorithms for the derivation of macrophysical, microphysical and optical properties of liquid water and ice clouds using observations of the SEVIRI sensor aboard the geostationary Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites
Procedures for the determination of the outgoing longwave radiation and reflected solar radiation at top of atmosphere from MSG/SEVIRI
Remote sensing techniques for the detection and quantification of volcanic ash plumes from MSG/SEVIRI
Methods for the tracking and nowcasting of the spatial distribution of liquid water and ice clouds as well as volcanic ash plumes from MSG/SEVIRI
One dimensional and three dimensional radiative transfer models (MOM + libRadtran and MYSTIC in cooperation with the chair for experimental meteorology at the Ludwig Maximilians-Universität in Munich)
