Time to celebrate! We received the great news that the CRC/TRR “Arctic Amplification (AC)³” will be funded by DFG for another 4 years (2024-2027). We are looking forward to continuing to do fascinating research in the high north!
Find below some press releases where you can read more about that:
Last week, Kerstin and Vera participated in the joint CFMIP-GASS* meeting in Paris. Apart from presentations and discussions about clouds, convection, circulation, and climate sensitivity, we even participated (virtually) in the Tour de France during the lunch break!
*CFMIP: Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project & GASS: Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX)’s Global Atmospheric System Studies
If you ask a child to draw a scientist, they will usually draw a white man. Is it true that scientists are only white men? Somehow yes, still. Data show that after PhD level, the number of men continuing in academia is becoming larger and larger than the number of women.
Why is it so? What are the main reasons behind this status-quo? The Wetoo documentary asks female scientists at different career stages what they think about this and how they live the situation from the inside. But women are not the only ones excluded. What about all groups not belonging to heterosexual white men?
We will discuss all this with you and our speakers in our get together on the 05 May 2023, from 16:30 to 19:00 in Room S01, Seminargebaüde (106), Universitätsstraße 37, 50931 Köln
Programme:
16:30 – 16:35: Introduction (Dr. Claudia Acquistapace)
16:35 – 17:00: Projection of the video “Wetoo: what they don’t tell you” and brief collection of impressions. (moderating Dr. Anna Werma)
17:00 – 17:30: “It’s a long way to the top (if you wanna do Science). Gender and Career in STEMM fields” – Presentation from Dr. Francesca Crivellaro
17:30 – 17:45: Q/A (moderating Dr. Anna Werma)
17:45 – 18:00: Distant no more – Presentation from Dr. Dirk Schulz.
18:00 – 19:00: Open discussion, questions, opinions, round table (moderating Dr. Anna Werma).
Come and join our lively discussion to share your opinion and ideas! We are looking forward to hearing from you!
Event attendees:
Dr. Francesca Crivellaro, invited speaker, Adjunct Professor at the Department of Education Studies, Department of Education Studies “Giovanni Maria Bertin, University of Bologna.
Dr. Dirk Schulz, invited speaker, Managing Director of GeStiK – Gender Studies in Cologne, GeStiK – Gender Studies in Cologne, University of Cologne,
Dr. Anna Katrin-Schmidt Verma, moderator, Doctor in inorganic chemistry, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Cologne
Dr. Claudia Acquistapace, round panelist, Junior research group Leader, Institute for geophysics and meteorology, University of Cologne
Dr. Hajar Maleki, Group leader at Institute of inorganic chemistry and associated group leader at CMMC, DFG, University of Cologne.
When:
05/05/2023, from 16:30 to 19:00
Where:
Room S01, Seminargebaüde (106), Universitätsstraße 37, 50931 Köln
Organizing institutions:
University of Cologne (https://portal.uni-koeln.de/en/uoc-home)
Forum Accademico Italiano (https://fai.science/)
by Daria Paul and Lennéa Hayo
The last few days were quite rough. After crossing the 40° S, we encountered a heavy storm shaking us thoroughly. It gave us wind speeds of up to 140km/h, 12m high waves and rolling the ship from side to side by nearly 45°. Everything on the ship had to be fastened to not go flying about and walking became a real challenge – not even to mention in a straight line.
Luckily the storm weakened after two days bringing the relieve of a good night of sleep again. With the ships movement during the storm even that became impossible, rolling us around in our beds, feeling weightless in one moment and three times heavier than normally in the next.
While we are now passing the Falkland Islands and approaching the Magellan Straight, plenty of wildlife is popping up: albatrosses and other flocks of birds have been accompanying the ship since yesterday and some lucky people even saw whales!
Apart from watching wildlife, we are kept busy with writing cruise reports, backing-up data and preparing the instruments for packing. Tomorrow we will reach Punta Arenas and are sad that the campaign is already over. It was great fun working together with the amazing crew of Maria S. Merian, with so many enthusiastic scientists from very different fields, taking measurements in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and especially very closely experiencing the features that we observed.
Kerstin Ebell
This week Mario and myself traveled to Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, to exchange our cloud radar MiRAC-A with the cloud radar JOYRAD94. Since MiRAC-A is needed for campaign preparations, it has to travel back to Germany. Swapping the instruments on the roof of the atmospheric observatory of AWIPEV (https://www.awipev.eu/) went very smoothly.
Thanks also to the AWIPEV and Kingsbay support! What a wonderful place to do measurements!
by Daria Paul and Lennéa Hayo
Last week, we left the ITCZ and are now heading straight toward Punta Arenas. The new free time, we, therefore, spend with first data analysis. During the third crossing of the ITCZ we for example experienced and measured a strong doldrum with no wind and very little water vapor content in an otherwise very moist environment.
Apart from the data analysis, we used the last few days for two new projects: we launched three more radiosondes during AEOLUS satellite overpasses to help validate its wind profiles and started a little test series with a KT19. The KT19 is a passive infrared “camera” measuring the sea surface skin temperature to estimate the sea emissivity.
After three weeks alone on the ocean, we saw the first ship on the horizon yesterday since we left the port in Mindelo! As we’re currently approaching the “roaring forties”, we have very rough weather ahead of us the next few days before we cross the “furious fifties” and finally reach the Magellan Strait, where we hopefully have some chances of seeing whales 😊.
Post by Daria Paul and Lennéa Hayo
Two weeks ago, we, Lennéa and Daria, joined the cruise MSM114/2 (ARC) on the RV Maria S. Merian together with an interdisciplinary group of scientists from the MPI-M in Hamburg, the Hafencity University, the University of Cologne, the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute, and the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The goal is to use the vessels transit from Mindelo on Cabo Verde to Punta Arenas in Chile (23.1. – 23.2.23) to investigate tropical convection within the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which we zig-zagged three times on our way south. On the way, we collect meteorological reference measurements. In contrast, others measure the ocean depth with sonars and conduct CTDs to learn more about the protistan community’s diversity and composition.
We joined the cruise with a microwave radiometer HATPRO (Humidity And Temperature PROfiler). The HATPRO faces the sky and measures microwave radiation emitted by the atmosphere. Through this, we get continuous profiles of temperature, humidity, liquid water content and water vapor content for the entire cruise.
In addition to the radiometer, we help Laura and Julia from Hamburg launch radiosondes every 3 hours during our journey through the ITCZ for ten days. Getting up at 4:30 in the morning to launch the first radiosonde of our shift isn’t particularly easy, but at least it brings the joy of beautiful tropical sunrises!
After all this time, a pandemic, and lots of efforts, the video is finally out. Take the chance to watch it, let us know your thoughts, and stay tuned… we are working on a live event soon in Cologne 🙂
Before closing this post, we want to exploit the chance to really thank all the people who made it possible to realize this video. From the videomakers to the commission members, including all the colleagues that contributed somehow to the realization of the project. It is a collective effort to raise interest on the issue of gender gap in research and find new solutions for a better life for everyone.
In December, Kerstin was interviewed by a journalist in the local newspaper “Kölnische Rundschau”. The article (in German) about climate change in the Arctic and about our measurement activities in the Arctic, in particular at AWIPEV (Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard), was published on Dec 27, 2022.
What is it about?
The article highlights the importance of long-term data and data analysis for climate studies. It is always great to have the chance to communicate our science to the broader public! And of course it is a challenge as well…
Hey hey, there’s an upcoming science slam to attend! In Bonn, young scientists will funnily present their science.
Among them there’s also our Imke! Imke is doing her phD in our group and will talk about her research: here’s her title:
Aren’t you curious? I am! let’s all meet there to see the show!
WHERE: Aula der Universität, Regina-Pacis-Weg 3, 53113 in Bonn
WHEN: at 19:30
DON’T MISS IT!!!!!!