Allgemeines Physikalisches Kolloquium - WS 2013/14

Ort:	48149 Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Straße 10, IG 1, HS 2
Zeit:	Donnerstag, 30.01.2014, 16 Uhr c.t.
	Kolloquiums-Kaffe: ab 15:45 Uhr vor dem Hörsaal

Aerosols, clouds and climate: the cloud project at cern

Prof. Dr. Joachim Curtius, Institut für Atmosphäre und Umwelt, Universität Frankfurt/Main

Clouds play a major role for the hydrological cycle, the radiation budget and climate on Earth. They are also the largest factor of uncertainty in the scientific understanding and prediction of climate change.

The CLOUD experiment at CERN allows to study aerosol and cloud formation under atmospheric conditions at a new level of precision. A focus of investigations are ion-induced aerosol formation processes using an elementary particle beam from CERN. Here, the potential role of galactic cosmic rays (and their modulation by the sun) for aerosols, clouds and climate is studied. The role of ionization for aerosol formation by different chemical systems is investigated and influences due to natural variability of the ionization are compared with the effects due to changing anthropogenic emissions.

New parameterizations are derived from the experimental results to include the aerosol formation processes in global aerosol and cloud models and to investigate the potential influences of aerosol nucleation on climate. The talk will give an overview of the CLOUD chamber at CERN and of the findings from the recent experiments.

Einladender: Prof. Dr. J. Wessels

Im Auftrag der Hochschullehrer des Fachbereichs Physik

Prof. Dr. N.A. Stolwijk