Authors: Jana Preißler, Giovanni Martucci and Colin D. O’Dowd
Summary: Clouds and aerosols play an important part in climate processes; however, their interactions are not well understood. To study the effect of both natural marine and anthropogenic aerosols on clouds and cloud optical properties we looked at a mix of information from remote-sensing and in situ instruments from more than 6 years.
Environmental pressures that this fellowship identified are related to the anthropogenic impact on air quality, weather and climate. The interaction of man-made and naturally occurring pollutants with clouds, and thus their impact on the climate, were studied with the help of remote-sensing
instruments.
Research findings have been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at international workshops and conferences. In addition, regular reports have been provided to inform policymakers. The following topics were addressed: cloud and aerosol properties, their interaction and their impact on climate.
This fellowship enabled maintenance of the remote-sensing division at Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station on the west coast of Ireland. Sophisticated sensors on the ground enabled highly temporally and vertically resolved observations of atmospheric components. An advancement of methodologies as well as use of a large data set led to an improved understanding of aerosol–cloud interactions, which was communicated to both the scientific and the non-scientific communities.
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