Remote sensing to close the climate change knowledge gap
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says aerosol-cloud interactions represent the single largest uncertainty in models for prediction of climate changes. Remote sensing can address this problem, but current university curricula do not cover these important techniques. The EU-funded ITARS (Initial training for atmospheric remote sensing) initiative worked to develop European-wide courses and training for a new generation of scientists in academia and the private sector. The team targeted improved understanding and measurement of aerosol and cloud processes in atmospheric models. ITARS exploited the well-established Blackboard learning platform to which all members continuously contributed online tutorials. Researchers organised a summer school and two joint measurement campaigns that complemented research and training programmes. Project efforts helped raise public awareness of climate change and its potential impact, and fostered close cooperation between academia and industry. Throughout ITARS, researchers set up common standards in supervision within the field of atmospheric remote sensing. The researchers presented their results at the Meteorological Technology World Expo in Brussels, where they directly discussed their future plans with industry leaders. With these results, a new and promising era of aerosol-cloud interaction research in support of climate modelling is on the horizon.
Keywords
Remote sensing, climate change, young researchers, aerosol-cloud interactions, ITARS
