COORDINATION of the HALO Demo Mission "Aerosol, Cloud, Precipitation, and Radiation Interactions and Dynamics of Extra-Tropical Convective Cloud System" (ACRIDICON)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Manfred Wendisch
• Subject Area: Atmospheric Science
• Term: from 2010 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 179171284

Convective clouds may cause serious economic damage due to gusty winds, heavy showers and precipitation which partly may include hail or graupel and thunderstorms. The dynamics and vigor of these distinct weather events are determined by microphysical processes in the course of the cloud and precipitation formation which can be modified by aerosol particles and interactions with atmospheric radiation. Furthermore, convective clouds profoundly process and redistribute trace gases and aerosol particles due to vertical transport and entrainment or detrainment. To study these interactions between trace gases, aerosol particles, the cloud and precipitation formation, and atmospheric radiation in extra-tropical convective clouds the HALO demo mission “Aerosol, Cloud, Precipitation, and Radiation Interactions and Dynamics of Extra-Tropical Convective Cloud Systems (ACRIDICON)” was proposed. ACRIDICON contributes to two foci of the SPP 1294: “Clouds and Precipitation” and “Transport and Dynamics in the Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere”. The present proposal is mainly to organize and manage ACRIDICON and to partly contribute to the data analysis and evaluation of radiation measurements collected during this HALO demo mission.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1294: Atmospheric and Earth System Research with the "High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft" (HALO)
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Ulrich Pöschl