Research Areas

The scientific projects in TPChange are organised in three main research areas. Together they address the main research questions of TPChange from different perspectives: What is the role of the UTLS* region for climate and the ciruculation across scales?

*UTLS – Upper Troposphere / Lower Stratosphere

Research Area A: Aerosols, clouds and chemistry 
This Research Area focuses on the role of aerosol and ice particles in the UTLS, their formation, chemistry, evolution and effect on the atmospheric radiation budget.

Research Area coordinators: Joachim Curtius, Christiane Voigt

Research Area B: Small scale dynamics and microphysics
This Research Area investigates the interaction of dynamical and microphysical processes in the UTLS.

Research Area coordinators: Ulrich Achatz, Peter Spichtinger, Annette Miltenberger

Research Area C: Large scale distributions, processes and impact
This Research Area focuses on large scale processes and the impact of processes of all scales on UTLS composition and variability, their expected changes in the future and their impact on present and future climate.

Research Area coordinators: Andreas Engel, Holger Tost

More details about the activities in each Research Area and its division into smaller projects with different focal points can be found on the Projects page and further internal links there.