Research Stay at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, USA []

Prof. Dr. Johannes Quaas (University of Leipzig)
Place: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, USA
Time Period: Winter Term 2019/2020
Funded by PROM Network Funds

The idea of the research stay was to collaborate with the PROM advisory board member Dr. Ann Fridlind on the use of polarimetric radar data for the evaluation of atmospheric processes and with Dr. Andy Ackerman specifically on the comparison between the cloud- and precipitation microphysical scheme in the GISS general circulation model in comparison to the ICON model used in PARA. I was able to identify specific differences in particular in the role of aerosols in modulating cloud microphysics. One further outcome of the stay was a joint study on the role of polarimetry also from satellite to constrain aerosol-cloud interactions (Quaas et al., 2020) with involvement of several colleagues from GISS. The research stay also included visits to other research institutes in the region, including the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, or the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt (see photos).

Figure 1: Clean room at NASA GSFC with satellite instruments. At the time of the visit, the James Webb telescope was still on Earth at GSFC.

Figure 2: Station for calibration of aerosol photometers on the roof at NASA GSFC.

Reference:

Quaas, J., A. Arola, B. Cairns, M. Christensen, H. Deneke, A. M. L. Ekman, G. Feingold, A. Fridlind, E. Gryspeerdt, O. Hasekamp, Z. Li, A. Lipponen, P.-L. Ma, J. Mülmenstädt, A. Nenes, J. E. Penner, D. Rosenfeld, R. mSchrödner, K. Sinclair, O. Sourdeval, P. Stier, M. Tesche, B. van Diedenhoven, M. Wendisch, 2020: Constraining the Twomey effect from satellite observations: issues and perspectives, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20(23), 15079–15099, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15079-2020.