The CleanCloud consortium has a dedicated team of almost 30 early career scientists who make their mark on the research. One of them is Dr. Romanos Foskinis, a research scientist at the Laboratory of Remote Sensing (LTE) and the Laboratory of Atmospheric Processes and their Impacts (LAPI) of the EPFL. This spring and summer, Dr. Foskinis was key to the success of the field measurements that were conducted under challenging conditions in the remote Arctic Villum Research Station in Greenland.
Villum Research Station is located on the Northmost side of Greenland, and this is where I had to transfer, install and operate a lidar (light detection and ranging) to determine the presence of aerosol in the atmosphere. By that I mean, from the ground level up the first kilometres within the stratosphere approximately 14km, alongside a cloud radar for retrieving the cloud microphysical properties, Dr. Foskinis explained.
During his Arctic stay, Dr. Foskinis also installed and implemented a Wideband Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor for measuring the concentration of large fluorescent aerosols. This indicates the amount and type of biological particles, such as bacteria and fungal spores.
These particles can be superb ice nucleators and promote cloud glaciation which in turn strongly affects the energy balance, cloud properties and precipitation. It is thought that melting of sea and land ice will increase the presence of these particles, and that's why it is so important to measure them, Dr. Foskinis continued.
Alongside the CleanCloud project, Dr. Foskinis has been a key person for the collaboration with the ARCSIX NASA Campaign – which collected airborne measurements of aerosols, clouds to study the contributions of surface, clouds and aerosol particles to the Arctic summer surface radiation budget during the early melt season. A summer CleanCloud campaign was set up specifically to carry out coordinated ground-based and remote sensing observations to interface with the NASA aircraft data and gain a holistic understanding for this region.
My contribution was to collect data from all the observations available at Villum and generate a summary that was used then in NASA briefings every day to help with flight planning. This led to numerous successful coordinated flights, and we are in the process of analyzing the data so we can hold a combined workshop in the future, Dr. Foskinis said. The aerosol lidar, being an in-house instrument, required special conditions of temperature and protection from the elements. This was particularly the case during spring, where temperatures plummeted often to -350C. The measurements from Villum are expected to fill important knowledge gaps. Due to the harsh conditions and the remote location, models of climate change for this region are virtually unconstrained by observations which makes predictions highly uncertain.
CleanCloud is a great and promising project which aims to gain new knowledge regarding the aerosol cloud interactions (ACI) in the future. As we enter a post-fossil world, the aerosols are expected to change dramatically, characterized by strong reductions in anthropogenic emissions but with increasingly larger impacts from natural aerosols, Dr Foskinis further explained.
Even though well-established theories about the ACI already exist for many years, the level of uncertainty remains extremely high in the climate models due to a series of feedback that are popping out making it hard to predict the response of the climate in future.
Mainly, my research field is focused on the studying of the aerosols/bioaerosols and their impacts on clouds and further in climate, but also the impacts on human health using a synergy of in situ and remote sensing techniques, including both passive and active techniques like satellites or lidars and radars. Thus, my research is strongly originated in field measurements and campaigns in various environments and locations and that’s more or less my role in the CleanCloud project, Dr. Foskinis continued.
The CleanCloud consortium is committed to contribute to the training of young and early career scientists (ECS) in the field of climate and aerosol-cloud interactions. We are proud to introduce our ECS team, chaired by Eemeli Holopainen, a postdoctoral researcher at FORTH/ICE-HT with background in environmental physics from Finnish Meteorological Institute and University of Eastern Finland:
– Our ECS team currently consists of 15 members, – all talented people with diverse backgrounds. Each brings unique skills and perspectives to the table. Our collective interests span a wide array of topics, including atmospheric physics, meteorology, and environmental chemistry, Holopainen explains.
The ECS team aims to facilitate networking opportunities, organize workshops and seminars, bring up interesting social media topics, announce events, and also provide mentorship to fellow ECS members as well as helping other members in need of a fresh perspective.
– Through these initiatives, we strive to create a supportive and inclusive environment where early career scientists can thrive and contribute meaningfully to our project's objectives, Holopainen continues.
The ECS members are encouraged to actively engage and promote the ECS network within the project consortium. Stay tuned for upcoming events, workshops, and opportunities for ECS involvement.
