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Into the mist of studying the mystery of Arctic low level clouds

Julia Schmale August 10, 2018

Into The Mist - view from the expedition by J. Schmale

This post is the first of a “live-series of blog post” that will be written by Julia Schmale while she is participating in the Arctic Ocean 2018 expedition. Low level Arctic clouds are still a mystery to the atmospheric science community. To understand their role the present and future Arctic climate, the Arctic Ocean 2018 Expedition is currently under way with an international group o ...[Read More]

Buckle up! Its about to get bumpy on the plane.

Luke Storer October 12, 2017

Figure 1: Increase in severe turbulence across the Northern Hemisphere.

Clear-Air Turbulence (CAT) is a major hazard to the aviation industry. If you have ever been on a plane you have probably heard the pilots warn that clear-air turbulence could occur at any time so always wear your seatbelt. Most people will have experienced it for themselves and wanted to grip their seat. However, severe turbulence capable of causing serious passengers injuries is rare. It is defi ...[Read More]

Volcanic Ash Particles Hold Clues to Their History and Effects

G.A. Hoshyaripour September 22, 2017

Ash plume from the Lascar volcano, Chile, October 2015. (Credit: Guy Brasseur)

Volcanic Ash as an Active Agent in the Earth System (VA3): Combining Models and Experiments; Hamburg, Germany, 12–13 September 2016 Volcanic ash is a spectacular companion of volcanic activity that carries valuable information about the subsurface processes. It also poses a range of severe hazards to public health, infrastructure, aviation, and agriculture, and it plays a significant role in bioge ...[Read More]

The art of turning climate change science to a crochet blanket

Prof. Ellie Highwood June 15, 2017

Global warming blanket

We welcome a new guest post from Prof. Ellie Highwood on why she made a global warming blanket and how you could the same! What do you get when you cross crochet and climate science? A lot of attention on Twitter. At the weekend I like to crochet. Last weekend I finished my latest project and posted the picture on Twitter. And then had to turn the notifications off because it all went a bit noisy. ...[Read More]

What? Ice lollies falling from the sky?

David Docquier June 2, 2017

Lolly in the sky. [Credit: Darwin Bell via flickr]

You have more than probably eaten many lollipops as a kid (and you might still enjoy them. The good thing is that you do not necessarily need to go to the candy shop to get them but you can simply wait for them to fall from the sky and eat them for free. Disclaimer: this kind of lollies might be slightly different from what you expect… Are lollies really falling from the sky? Eight years ago ...[Read More]

Black Carbon: the dark side of warming in the Arctic

Patrik Winiger November 2, 2016

Greenland in summer: ice is covered by dark particles which amplify melting. [Credit : NASA ICE distributed via flickr]

When it comes to global warming, greenhouse gases – and more specifically CO2 – are the most often pointed out. Fewer people know however that tiny atmospheric particles called ‘black carbon’ also contribute to the current warming. This post presents a paper my colleague and I recently published in Nature Communications . Our study sheds more light into the chemical make-up of black ca ...[Read More]