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Unraveling the impact of turbulence in Mixed-phase Clouds

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.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2023-COG

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Host institution

CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOGSKOLA AB
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 1 998 531,00
Address
-
412 96 Goteborg
Sweden

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Region
Södra Sverige Västsverige Västra Götalands län
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 998 531,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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