AS
Atmospheric Sciences

Atmospheric Sciences

EGU’s Climate: Past, Present & Future and Atmospheric Sciences Divisions welcome the US back into the Paris Climate Agreement

EGU’s Climate: Past, Present & Future and Atmospheric Sciences Divisions welcome the US back into the Paris Climate Agreement

As of 19 February 2021, the US officially re-joined the Paris Climate Agreement, a landmark international accord to limit global warming by 2°C (and ideally to 1.5°C) compared to pre-industrial levels. The Paris Climate Agreement aims to bring the world together to avoid catastrophic warming that will impact us all and to build resilience to …[Read More]

Using cloud microphysics to predict thunderstorms: How modelling of atmospheric electricity could save lives

Using cloud microphysics to predict thunderstorms: How modelling of atmospheric electricity could save lives

The last three decades were the warmest in the history of meteorological observations in Europe. Temperature rise is accompanied by an increase in the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather and climatic events, which are the main risks for population and environment associated with modern climate change. An important class of such phenomena includes severe …[Read More]

The acidity of atmospheric particles and clouds

The acidity of atmospheric particles and clouds

Many of us learned about acidity, or pH, in high school chemistry. We learned that acids like HCl could dissociate into H+ and Cl- and the activity of those H+ ions defined the acidity. In the atmosphere, the same basic definition of acidity, or pH on the molality scale, applies to aqueous phases like suspended …[Read More]

A new European effort to better understand extreme weather

A new European effort to better understand extreme weather

Feature Image: Screenshot of the european weather Extremes: DrIvers, Predictability and Impacts (EDIPI) homepage. Background Image Credits: Copernicus Sentinel data, processed by ESA. Extreme weather events routinely have detrimental socio-economic impacts around the globe. In fact, weather-related events make up over 90% of natural disasters worldwide [1]. In the new millennium, the frequency of many …[Read More]

Atmospheric research in the middle of the Amazon forest: The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory celebrates its anniversary

Atmospheric research in the middle of the Amazon forest: The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory celebrates its anniversary

It looks like a spike, orange against the blue sky, sticking out the green ocean of the Amazon forest: Standing 325 m tall, the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) is the highest construction in South America. This tower celebrates its 5th anniversary this year, while the ATTO research site, located ~150 km northeast of Manaus, …[Read More]

A brighter future for the Arctic

A brighter future for the Arctic

This is a follow-up from a previous publication. Recently, a new analysis of the impact of Black Carbon in the Arctic was conducted within a European Union Action. “Difficulty in evaluating, or even discerning, a particular landscape is related to the distance a culture has traveled from its own ancestral landscape. As temperate-zone people, we …[Read More]

Water vapor isotopes: a never ending story!

Water vapor isotopes: a never ending story!

Water stables isotopes are commonly exploited in various types of archives for their information on past climate evolutions. Ice cores retrieved from polar ice sheets or high-altitude glaciers are probably the most famous type of climate archives. In ice cores, the message about past temperature variations is conserved in the ice, formed from the snow …[Read More]