Characterization of the atmosphere above Antarctica by means of ground-based remote sensing

Topic context

• The Antarctic continent and its surrounding Southern Ocean are key components of the global climate system. In the framework of the field experiment, continuous Observations of Aerosol-Cloud-Interaction in Antarctica (COALA), novel observations of aerosol and clouds by means of ground-based remote sensing have been performed by TROPOS in Antarctica at the German Neumayer Station III (70.67°S, 8.27°W) from January to December 2023. The deployment of the OCEANET-Atmosphere remote-sensing observatory covers the full ACTRIS aerosol and cloud profiling capabilities additionally to meteorological, radiation, and air chemistry in-situ observations at the Antarctic station.
• The master thesis shall focus on microphysical properties of (shallow) mixed-phase clouds retrieved from lidar and radar synergy. Depending on the student’s interest, the topic can be developed towards, e.g., characterizing the aerosol properties relevant for cloud formation or intercomparison with reanalysis datasets among other possibilities including sensor synergy
• Literature references are provided in the source text to guide the topic.