• Home
• What's new?
• Search:

• Introduction
• News and events
• Undergraduate study
• Graduate study
• Research in the Department
  • Research clusters
  • Spaces of Economy & Society
  • Society, Environment & Development
  • Environmental Processes
  • Historical & Cultural Geography
  • Glacial & Quaternary
  • Additional Research Centres
  • Research projects index
  • Postgraduate research
  • Visiting Scholars scheme
  • Reading groups
  • Seminars
• People in the Department
• Library
• Facilities
• Alumni
• Links
• Vacancies
• Contacts

Aerosols and climate

Aerosols play an important role in the climate system, both directly and in interaction with clouds. Aerosol effects have been studied in several international projects, as detailed below.

In the EU FP5 project Particles in the upper Troposphere and lower Stratosphere and their role in the climate system (PARTS), coordinated by HF Graf, aerosol formation and impact on chemistry and climate was studied for the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.

EU FP6 ASIAproECO project INSIDE (Indonesian smoke induced by drought episodes) and FP5 project Smoke Aerosols, Clouds, Rainfall and Climate: Aerosols from Biomass Burning Perturb Regional and Global Climate (SMOCC) as well as in the German AFO2000 project EFEU (Impact of Vegetation Fires on the Composition and Circulation of the Atmosphere) mainly regional effects of aerosols from biomass burning on atmospheric chemistry, clouds and radiation were investigated.

This photograph shows ship tracks (upper left) produced by emission of soot and sulphur from diesel engines which act as cloud condensation nuclei. It also shows smoke from biomass burning (upper central, brownish) which is mixing with clouds.

Selected Publications:

• Timmreck, C. and H.-F. Graf, 2000: A microphysical model for simulation of stratospheric aerosol in a climate model. Meteorol. Z., 9, 263-282
• Timmreck, C. (2001), Three-dimensional simulation of stratospheric background aerosol: First results of a multiannual GCM simulation. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 28,313-28,332
• Nober, F., H.-F. Graf, and D. Rosenfeld, 2003: Sensitivity of the global circulation to the suppression of precipitation by anthropogenic aerosols. Global and Planetary Change 37 (2003) 57-80
• Langmann, B. and Hans-F. Graf, 2003: Indonesian smoke aerosols from peat fires and the contribution from volcanic sulfur emissions. Geophys. Res. Lett.,30, 11, 1547, doi:10.1029/2002GL016646, 2003
• B. Langmann, H.-F. Graf and A. Heil (2003): Smoke particles from peat fires in Indonesia 1997/1998: A model study, J.Aerosol Science 34, Suppl. 1, 608-610.
• Graf, H.-F., 2004: The complex interaction of aerosols and clouds, SCIENCE, Vol.203, 1309-1311, 27 February, 2004
• Nober FJ, Graf HF, 2006: A new convective cloud field model based on principles of self-organisation, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 5: 2749-2759 OCT 20 2005
• Pfeffer, M.A., B. Langmann, and H.-F. Graf, Atmospheric transport and deposition of Indonesian volcanic emissions, Atmos Chem Physics Discussions, 5, 11861-11897, 2005, SRef-ID: 1680-7375/acpd/2005-5-11861