2023

Changing flight altitudes avoids the formation of climate-damaging contrails

A team from DLR-IPA and EUROCONTROL/MUAC has demonstrated that avoiding long-lasting contrails actually works in real-world air traffic. This is a step towards climate-friendly air transport.

Award for decades of research into climate-friendly aviation

Prof. Ulrich Schumann, former head of the IPA, is awarded the Ludwig Prandtl Ring for his work in aviation science at the German Aerospace Congress.

Findings on climate impact of hypersonic air traffic nominated for Paul Crutzen Publication Award

Advancing climate change also requires a drastic reduction in the climate impact of civil aviation. Two EU projects are investigating new aircraft concepts in terms of technology and their impact on the environment.

Airborne eddy covariance measurements of agricultural nitrous oxide and methane emissions in the Netherlands

IPA scientists have successfully tested new measurement methods as part of the DLR GHGMon project during an aircraft measurement campaign to determine agricultural N 2 O and CH 4 emissions in the Netherlands.

Aeolus mission successfully completed with a new record

After almost five years of operation, the Doppler wind lidar instrument ALADIN on board Aeolus was shut down on July 5, 2023. Having exceeded its planned three-year-lifetime by 18 months, the satellite of ESA's fifth Earth Explorer mission is running out of fuel, hence forcing the "God of the Winds" to return to Earth.

TELMA begins measurements at South Pole

When night falls in Antarctica, dramatic changes in atmospheric circulation occur. The green laser beam belongs to TELMA, our Rayleigh lidar dedicated to observing dynamics in Earth’s middle atmosphere.

Impact of transport emissions on air quality

In a Young Investigator’s Group led by DLR, scientists from DLR and Helmholtz Munich investigate the effects of traffic emissions on air quality, human health and vegetation in a changing climate.

Measuring methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities off the Central African coast

In mid-January 2023, DLR scientists reported on their first results from the METHANE-To-Go Africa measurement campaign at the "Oman Conference for Environmental Sustainability" in Muscat.

Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2022

The Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 2022 has been published in the beginning of February 2023. The latest update of the Ozone Assessment was produced over the last two years with major contributions from scientists from DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics.

Travel to the South Pole

In January 2023, two scientists of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics set out for South Pole, Antarctica, where they will install one of our lidar instruments at the American Amundsen-Scott station.