Aerosol-Cloud Interaction
Long-term Analysis of Processes and Trends
Long-term measurements and model investigations of cloud-relevant physical and chemical aerosol properties (potential for activation and ice formation) as well aerosol-induced cloud properties (indirect aerosol effect) shall identify the spatiotemporal aerosol-cloud interactions and shall link those to regional and climatological changes of the Earth system.
The continues operation of ground-based remote sensing methods to determine cloud and aerosol properties and the combination with satellite remote sensing of comparable parameter shall provide the basis for a climatologically relevant evaluation of aerosol and cloud processes, and shall contribute to an improvement of corresponding parameterizations in weather and climate models.
The combined analysis of ground-based and satellite-based observations allows to retrieve additional or more-accurate information about atmospheric properties.
The combination of ground observations with satellite data improves the understanding of cloud processes.
The various aerosol types present in the atmosphere differ strongly in their microphysical and chemical structure determining their shape, size, solubility, etc. Studies of TROPOS dealing with cloud-relevant aerosol properties are presented in the following.
Properties of clouds as well as their formation can change under differing aerosol conditions. The studies of TROPOS that focus on such relations are presented here.