Research group "Clouds and storm tracks", group leader: Dr. Aiko Voigt

 

ICON-NWP simulation of weather system over North Atlantic during NAWDEX field campaign between 20-25 September, 2016. Evolution of several cyclonic systems can be observed during the same period. One of such cases, cyclone, “Vladiana”, which developed on 22 September near Newfoundland can be seen here as a frontal wave, which rapidly intensified between 22 and 23 September, while moving eastward along the baroclinic zone. The cyclone is seen here to be associated with a strong warm conveyor belt (WCB), with the inflow and ascent region located west of Portugal and the UK, and the outflow centered over south of Iceland.

 

Welcome on the website of the BMBF-funded junior research group "Cloud-radiative interactions with the North Atlantic Storm Track".

We research the coupling between clouds and the extratropical circulation of the atmosphere, and its role for climate and climate change. We are in particular interested in those aspects of the cloud-radiative coupling that involve radiative interactions. Cloud-radiative interactions have since long been studied in the context of how climate changes at the global scale. Their consequences for regional climate change, which is predominantly shaped by the circulation of the atmosphere, is less known, however, in particular in mid- and highlatitude regions. By closing this gap in knowledge we aim to contribute to an improved understanding of Earth‘s climate and better predictions of its future.

We use a combination of global climate simulations and ultra high-resolution regional simulations, together with the analysis of various observational data sets and theoretical concepts.

We also study other aspects of global climate dynamics and modeling. For example, we investigate the circulation impact of aerosol and the dynamics of tropical rain belts. We lead the climate model intercomparison projects „Easy Aerosol“ and „TRACMIP: Tropical Rain belts with an Annual cycle and a Continent Model Intercomparison Project“.These activities are organized under the umbrella of the WCRP Grand Challenge in Clouds, Circulation and Climate Sensitivity.

Our junior group is part of the German-wide research initiative HD(CP)2: High Definition Clouds and Precipitation for Advancing Climate Prediction and receives most of its funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and FONA.