General Archive – TPChange

IPA and TPChange at Mainz Science Market

Vera Bense — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:51:44 +0000

TPChange was a partner of the Mainzer Wissenschaftsmarkt 2026 taking place September 12 and 13. Colleagues from the institute of atmospheric physics and TPChange informed the visitors on

CO₂ – small molecule, big effect:

From watching the plant uptake of CO₂ live in the experiment to the physical connection of CO₂ increase to global warming and to the importance of UTLS research in TPChange.
Younger visitors were attracted by the possibility to taste a (sugar) cloud!

Some impressions:

Pictures by N. Zhang, V. Bense

Directly to the event:

Mainz Science Market 2026

Der Beitrag IPA and TPChange at Mainz Science Market erschien zuerst auf TPChange.

Two new publications on wind dataset comparisons

Vera Bense — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:42:18 +0000

1) Comprehensive evaluation of Aeolus wind measurements against in situ observations and reanalysis datasets over the Indian monsoon region

Balasundhar, B., H. K. Alladi, M. V. Ratnam, and A. Kottayil (2026a)

European Journal of Remote Sensing 59 (1), 2712601. doi: 10.1080/22797254.2026.2712601.

Abstract: Ground-based and balloon-borne instruments are available for wind measurements but are limited in spatial coverage. At this juncture, the Aeolus satellite with the first spaceborne Doppler wind lidar marked a breakthrough in global wind profiling by providing Horizontal Line of Sight (HLOS) wind observations in the Rayleigh and Mie channels across the troposphere and lower stratosphere. In this study, we conducted an comprehensive validation of the ascending and descending Aeolus Level-2B (L2B) wind products in these channels using GPS radiosonde observations launched at 00 UTC and 12 UTC over India Meteorological Department (IMD) locations from June 2019 to October 2022. Aeolus HLOS winds were also compared with global (ERA5) and regional (IMDAA) reanalysis datasets. The retrieval assessment was further refined by categorizing the wind data into different seasons: pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon and winter. A good correlation between the Aeolus and in situ wind measurements, with a correlation (bias) of 0.64 (1.21 m/s) for Rayleigh-clear and 0.62 (5.08 m/s) for the Mie-cloudy retrievals is observed. Biases, with differences in magnitude, were observed against reanalysis datasets. This study quantifies wind measurement biases over the Indian monsoon region, providing a basis for assessing the suitability of Aeolus HLOS winds for potential assimilation into WRF models.

2) Evaluating Aeolus HLOS Winds and Characterizing the Low-Level Jet (LLJ) and Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ) over the Indian Summer Monsoon: An Intercomparison with Radiosonde and Reanalysis Datasets.

Balasundhar, B., H. K. Alladi, M. Venkat Ratnam, M. Ratynski, and P. Singh (2026b)

Remote Sensing 18 (18), doi: 10.3390/rs18183077.

What are the main findings?

Aeolus Rayleigh-clear HLOS wind retrievals show excellent agreement with radiosonde observations (correlation coefficient = 0.95, bias = 0.11 m/s), with accuracy improving to R = 0.97 in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS), while Mie-cloudy retrievals perform markedly weaker.
The vertical structure and intensity of the Low-Level Jet and Tropical Easterly Jet derived from Aeolus agree more closely with radiosonde observations than with ERA5, MERRA-2, and NCEP-2 reanalyses, with NCEP-2 showing the largest deviations.

What is the implication of the main finding?

Aeolus demonstrates strong potential as a reliable, independent wind observation source for validating and improving reanalysis products over the data-sparse Indian Ocean region.
These findings support the use of Aeolus Doppler wind lidar observations to enhance monitoring and prediction of Indian Summer Monsoon circulation dynamics.

Related TPChange projects:

B03 Moist convection and tracer transport into and out of the Asian Summer Monsoon Anticyclone

Der Beitrag Two new publications on wind dataset comparisons erschien zuerst auf TPChange.

TPChange team at Goethe run

Vera Bense — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 15:47:23 +0000

A new TPChange activity was launched this summer: taking part in a run together!

The “Goethe run” took place on the 26th August 2026 and was organised by the collegiate sport of Goethe Uni Frankfurt.

With perfectly sunny, but not too hot weather, this was a great evening.

After getting ready with beachvolleyball and a warming up instruction with dance moves, the team started on the course that connects Campus Ginnheim with Campus Westend on 5,8 km or 11,6 km (extra lap).

Afterwards all runners could enjoy food, drinks and music and the TPChange team joined with the IAU team “Running out of funding”.

Thank you to everybody who was a part of this!

Goethe run 2026 – group picture

Goethe run 2026 – warming up

Goethe run 2026 – running buddies

Goethe run 2026 – dinner afterwards

Der Beitrag TPChange team at Goethe run erschien zuerst auf TPChange.

Workshop for ECR

Aurelia Müller — Wed, 06 May 2026 07:19:08 +0000

Course on Academic Presentation Skills – Thursday 10 December to Friday 11 December 2026 in Mainz:

Title: Academic presentation training
Trainer: Julie Stearns (Impulsplus)
Date: 10/11 December 2026
Location: Frankfurt or Mainz in presence
Content: Conference (talk/poster) presentation/ engaging the listener in your talk/ effective presentation structure, use of voice and body language, managing questions&answers; furthermore Tailor-made training content which focusses on the aims and goals and needs of the individual participants

Julie Stearns

Der Beitrag Workshop for ECR erschien zuerst auf TPChange.

New “Scilight” publication on ice clouds

Vera Bense — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:15:08 +0000

Investigations of clouds need well-characterized models for simulating relevant properties as well as helping to interpret measurements. Here, we propose a simple but robust model for ice clouds, which is characterized using the theory of dynamical systems, and compare to real measurements. The proposed model is not the end of the line but rather a first step in systematic deriving of consistent models of different complexities.

Authors: Hannah Bergner and Peter Spichtinger

Title: Ice clouds as nonlinear oscillators

Journal: Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science

Link: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0297531

This publication is a featured article and was marked as a Scilight:
https://pubs.aip.org/aip/sci/article/2026/15/151113/3386734/Modeling-ice-clouds-as-nonlinear-oscillators

Related TPChange projects:

B07 Impact of cirrus clouds on tropopause structure

Der Beitrag New “Scilight” publication on ice clouds erschien zuerst auf TPChange.

Second phase starts!

Vera Bense — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 09:00:18 +0000

TPChange goes to second funding phase

Some positions have already been filled, but many are still open for application!

The second funding phase will go from 1st January 2026 until 30th June 2029.

Der Beitrag Second phase starts! erschien zuerst auf TPChange.

Open positions

Vera Bense — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 08:20:00 +0000

We would like to announce several PhD and Postdoc job opportunities within the second funding phase of the German Collaborative Research Centre

„The Tropopause Region in a Changing Atmosphere – TPChange“

The topics range from laboratory to field measurements, complex theoretical projects, especially with aerosol-chemical and dynamical topics, as well as their embedment in Earth system modelling on different scales.

Participating institutions are Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Goethe University Frankfurt/Main, Technical University Darmstadt, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Forschungszentrum Jülich and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Find out more at: https://tpchange.de/open-positions/

We are looking forward to your application!

Der Beitrag Open positions erschien zuerst auf TPChange.

TPChange will continue to second funding phase!

Vera Bense — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 08:10:31 +0000

Big success for TPChange!

We are thrilled that our proposal for a second funding phase was approved by DFG today.

Thank you to all TPChange members and colleagues for their contributions to this success – through excellent scientific work in Phase I and helping getting the message across in the proposal and at the review meeting.

Time to celebrate and to look forward to the next 3,5 years!

Press releases:

DFG:
https://www.dfg.de/de/service/presse/pressemitteilungen/2025/pressemitteilung-nr-37

JGU:
https://presse.uni-mainz.de/johannes-gutenberg-universitaet-mainz-mit-sieben-antraegen-fuer-sonderforschungsbereiche-erfolgreich/

JGU/FB08:
https://www.fb08.uni-mainz.de/2025/11/21/sonderforschungsbereich-zur-bedeutung-der-tropopausenregion-fuer-das-klima-geht-in-die-zweite-foerderphase/

GUF:
https://www.puk.uni-frankfurt.de/180725909/Erster_Sonderforschungsbereich_in_den_Erziehungswissenschaften

Der Beitrag TPChange will continue to second funding phase! erschien zuerst auf TPChange.