The Aerosol Ageing and Interactions with Radiation and Clouds (OceANIC) is a collaboration with Assistant Professor Bernadette Rosati. The project aims to investigate aerosol ageing resulting from both anthropogenic and biogenic influences. This project is described under research as: 

Atmospheric aerosols directly impact Earth’s radiation balance and cloud formation. The aerosol-radiation interaction is dictated by the aerosols ability to scatter and absorb sunlight, i.e. their optical properties. Aerosol particles can stay in the atmosphere for weeks, allowing for reactions to occur with surrounding gases and particles, solar radiation, and changes due to varying temperature and relative humidity. This is called ageing of the aerosols, and this ageing can impact the aerosols optical properties and their ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei. In this project, we study the optical properties of and ageing effects on sea spray aerosols – in the laboratory but also through field measurements. In the laboratory, we generate sea spray aerosols for example by using the sea spray simulation chamber, AEGOR, and we simulate different ageing processes using the atmospheric simulation chamber, AURA.

Funding: Villum Young Investigator awarded to Assistant Professor Bernadette Rosati.