Project description
A novel approach to studying cloud-circulation interactions
Global warming and its anticipated consequences make improved weather predictions increasingly important, because climate change will be felt by most people through changes in daily weather. However, there is a great deal of uncertainty associated with projections of future changes in storm tracks, precipitation bands and regional weather extremes. This is mainly because we still have fundamental gaps in our understanding of how clouds interact with the atmospheric flow, and how these interactions need to be simulated in weather and climate models. The EU-funded GLAD project proposes an entirely new perspective on clouds and their control of the large-scale flow. This will be achieved through the analysis of the history of air parcels in high-resolution simulations building a novel physical-science basis for cloud-circulation couplings.
Objective
This project will address fundamental gaps in our understanding of how clouds form, how they interact with the atmospheric flow and how they need to be simulated in weather and climate models. Our inability to improve the representation of clouds and their interactions with the atmospheric flow is the leading cause of the high level of uncertainty associated with projections of future changes in storm tracks, precipitation bands and weather extremes. The representation of clouds in models is poor, largely because clouds are unresolved. Given the potentially significant impacts of projected global warming and the significant benefits of improved weather predictions, it is imperative to improve the representation of cloud-circulation interactions in models. However, how do we acquire the necessary process understanding to close existing knowledge gaps? I propose a fundamentally new perspective on clouds and their control of the large-scale flow leading ultimately to a unique cloud classification system. Instead of studying clouds based on the traditional Eulerian perspective, I suggest analysing cloud-circulation couplings based on the history of air parcels (Lagrangian perspective). A systematic Lagrangian-based investigation of cloud-circulation couplings in ultra-high-resolution simulations is a true novelty and has never been attempted. Based on convection-permitting simulations over a climatological period, which exploit recent advances in supercomputing architectures, the cloud parcels are classified according to their circulation impact and feed into a machine learning algorithm that is trained using the physical processes acting along their pathways. This approach has the potential to drastically improve our mechanistic understanding of how to represent clouds in models and to identify the leading cloud-related processes that control regional to large-scale flow variability, which is one of the Grand Challenges defined by the World Climate Research Programme.
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.
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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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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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.
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
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.
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.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
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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-2019-STG
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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.
8092 Zuerich
Switzerland
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.