CRiceS - Climate Relevant interactions and feedbacks: the key role of sea ice and Snow in the polar and global climate system

Sea spray aerosols are ubiquitous over much of the Earth's surface and are especially important in remote regions with few other aerosol sources. As such, they may have a pronounced impact on climate through direct and indirect effects on the radiation budget.

The project ARTofMELT (Atmospheric rivers and the onset of sea ice melt 2023) centers on an international interdisciplinary research expedition onboard the Swedish research icebreaker Oden to the central Arctic Ocean in May and June 2023.

Despite their abundance in the Earth’s atmosphere, cloud formation and evolution are still poorly understood. This is particularly true for the interactions clouds have with atmospheric aerosol particles and their precursor vapors, which hampers our knowledge on the role that clouds and precipitation play in the climate system and in governing air quality.

Will the ice continue to disappear at an ever-increasing rate as the exposed ocean surface absorbs increasing amounts of solar radiation? Or might conditions become progressively more favorable for biological activity and associated cloud-formation, decreasing the amount of solar-radiation received at the surface?

Aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) remain the largest source of uncertainty in past, present, and future radiative forcing, impeding credible climate projections.

Feedbacks between a changing climate and vegetation (CLIVE): The role of volatile organic compounds and biogenic aerosols. CLIVE aims to explore how forests, particularly in boreal and tropical regions, influence climate change through their interactions with carbon and water cycles.