Our research is devoted to improving fundamental understanding of the global climate system, as a basis of higher accuracy estimates of the impact of anthropogenic perturbations as well as of its internal natural variability.
Focal points of our research are aerosol and cloud physics, their interactions and their
role in the climate system.
Aerosols are small liquid or solid particles suspended in air of both
anthropogenic and natural origin.
Atmospheric aerosols play an important role in the global climate
system through direct modification of the global radiation budget,
by scattering and absorption, as well as indirectly, by the modification
of cloud properties.
A particular challenge for aerosol research is that almost all processes
relevant for the global aerosol system, such as their sinks and
radiative properties, their water uptake and chemical reactivity,
depend on the aerosol size-distribution, composition, and mixing
state.
To determine the aerosol climatic effects, the distribution of
these microscopic properties has to be known on the global scale.
The associated uncertainties make them a key uncertainty in
the assessment of climate change.
We employ advanced computer models of the atmosphere,
with explicit representation of the governing microphysical aerosol and cloud process, in synergy
with measurement data from satellites, aircrafts and ground
based instruments to gain insights in the underlying processes of the direct and indirect
effects of aerosols on climate.
Figure: Aerosol mass-mixing ratios isosurfaces colour-coded by component as simulated
with the aerosol-climate model ECHAM5-HAM. Contour levels are individually adjusted.
Click to see 3D animaion
Figure: Illustration of the A-Train concept of multiple earth observation satellites providing co-located
measurements from multiple instruments within minutes of consecutive overpass times.
