Research Group Aerosols and Clouds

Head of group: Dr. Silke Groß

Cross-section of the backscatter ratio at 1064 nm derived with the airborne lidar system WALES along a flight track north of the Pyrenees on 29 March 2014

Although the Earth’s atmosphere is composed mostly of gases, aerosols and clouds have a large impact on the Earth’s radiation budget. The investigation of the climate impact of aerosols and clouds is the key objective of the upcoming ESA satellite mission EarthCARE, employing a new and outstanding combination of active and passive remote sensing instrumentation including an advanced lidar system and a cloud radar. To effectively exploit these measurements, novel strategies and methods have to be developed.

This DLR-funded young investigators group aims at scientific preparation and developing methods for EarthCARE, in particular for its key instrumentation (lidar/radar) by using a combination of ground-based, airborne and satellite-based lidar and radar measurements. The overall objective of this group is to gain an improved understanding of the role of aerosols and clouds in the climate system.

EarthCARE will decipher interactions in the atmosphere
Whether drought and heat in southern Europe or extremely heavy precipitation events in Germany – solar radiation is the decisive factor for climate events and weather dynamics on Earth, as it drives circulation in the atmosphere. However, this radiation is distributed very differently in the atmosphere, where it also interacts with clouds and aerosols – a mixture of solid and liquid particles – as well as with trace gases. To enhance the accuracy of predictions in the near future, a comprehensive global understanding of aerosol and cloud parameters, which are currently not easy to determine, is important. Deciphering their interactions within the atmosphere is crucial. This and the measurement of radiation density will allow the radiation budget of the planet to be determined much more precisely than is the case today. The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are therefore planning to launch their largest and most complex Earth Explorer Earth observation mission to date in May 2024.
Credit:

ESA/ATG medialab

Specific research questions are:

  • How do aging processes and transport affect the microphysical and optical properties of aerosols?
  • What are the climate relevant properties of cirrus clouds, and how do they change with the lifetime of the cloud?
  • What can we learn from current satellite observations in preparation of the next-generation satellite missions?

To answer these questions and to improve our understanding of the climate relevant properties and processes of aerosols and clouds we combine process studies, the enhancement of synergistic radar and lidar retrievals, and satellite measurements.