Project description
Clearing the fog of uncertainty surrounding mixed-phase clouds
Mixed-phase clouds are like atmospheric puzzles, with ice particles, supercooled water droplets, and water vapour all mixed together. They control much of Earth’s weather and climate, yet we struggle to understand how they work. Previous research has shown that turbulence plays a key role in ‘warm’ clouds, but its impact on mixed-phase clouds remains unknown. With this in mind, the ERC-funded MixClouds project aims to solve the mysteries of mixed-phase clouds using new tools and methods. Specifically, it will conduct analysis and innovative modelling to quantify the impact of turbulence on cloud dynamics and develop novel approaches for predictive modelling. The project can impact other areas beyond atmospheric physics, such as climatology and industrial applications involving suspensions of three-phase flows.
Objective
Mixed-phase clouds—atmospheric complex three-phase systems containing suspended ice particles, supercooled water droplets, and water vapor—are responsible for most of the precipitations reaching the Earth’s surface. In addition, these clouds play a primary role in the planet’s radiative energy budget and the water cycle. Despite their relevance, there is a lack of a basic understanding of the complex hydrodynamics, heat, and mass transfer between the different water components with numerous scientific open questions. In the last decades, many scientific works have shown a significant impact of turbulence in “warm” (ice-free) clouds and “warm” rain formation in enhancing condensation/evaporation of rain droplets and promoting collisions. On the other hand, the role of turbulence in mixed-phase clouds has never been properly quantified; consequently, up to now, this topic has been nearly exclusively a subject pertaining to atmospheric physics rather than fluid dynamics. I want to change this perspective and analyze the rich dynamics of mixed-phase clouds using a combination of theoretical and numerical tools developed for general multiphase flows. MixClouds is a multidisciplinary project aiming to: i) understand the impact of turbulence in mixed-phase cloud microphysics of water hydrometeors, ii) quantify this impact by determining typical ice and water droplet size distributions at given temperature, humidity, and turbulence levels, iii) developing the next generation of numerical tools to couple multiphase turbulent dynamics at different scales, iv) developing novel sub-grid models to parametrize mixed-phase cloud microphysics and test against known atmospheric observations. The final results can potentially generate a ground-breaking impact not only in the areas of turbulent multiphase flows and cloud physics but also in climatology and in all environmental and industrial applications involving suspensions of three-phase flows in the presence of phase changes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
412 96 GOTEBORG
Sweden
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