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Aerosols and Clouds

A research group in the Department 'Lidar'

Head of group: Dr. Silke Groß

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

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

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.

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.