Research group Circulation and connection land-sea-atmosphere

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

Can polar clouds dampen global warming? The current consensus states that clouds enhance surface warming in polar regions but that their impact on the net energy budget at the top of the atmosphere, and thus global climate, is either small or cooling.

MOCCHA (Microbiology-Ocean-Cloud-Coupling – in the High Arctic) – ARCTIC OCEAN 2018 was an international and interdisciplinary research expedition to the central Arctic Ocean during the summer of 2018.

Clouds in the tropics and midlatitudes contribute roughly equally to the global cloud feedback. However, there is still no accepted explanation for why midlatitude cloud feedback is positive or what mechanisms determine its magnitude.

MATS (Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy) is a Swedish satellite mission designed to investigate atmospheric waves. Large uncertainties in the distribution of such waves is a limiting factor for atmospheric models in predicting future changes in the mesosphere, the region bordering space at 50-100 km above sea level.

Previously proposed tipping-points that would lead to the tropical rain forest systems’ collapse involve positive feedback processes. Yet, the Amazon rain forest has persisted despite higher temperatures and carbon dioxide levels in the past.