REALISTIC project

On Thursday 21/11, Bernard Legras, Sergey Khaykin, Nelson Begue and Marion RANAIVOMBOLA presented their talks on atmospheric dynamics. Bernard Legras introduced atmospheric transport, Sergey Khaykin presented the impact of wildfires and volcanic eruptions on stratospheric composition and dynamics. Nelson Bègue and Marion Ranaivombola presented their work on the characterization of aerosol plumes transport over Southern Africa and Southwest of Indian Ocean in 2022. In the afternoon, we had the talks of Paola Formenti and Damaris Kirsch Pinheiro. Paola Formenti presented the results of ongoing research on atmospheric aerosols in Namibia and South Africa and Damaris Kirsch Pinheiro presented a talk on Atmospheric chemistry and Brazilian biomass burning. To finish, Evelyne TARNUS gave a talk on the funding opportunities provided by Horizon Europe, linking it with La Réunion. This talk was very helpful for PhD students (doctors-to-be) to get to know the Research Programme funding system of the European Commission. And to finish the day, we had a social dinner in Alamanda.

On Wednesday 20/11, the students and speakers went to the Maïdo Observatory (Observatoire de Physique de l'Atmosphère à La Réunion / Reunion Island Atmospheric Physics Observatory). It was a good opportunity for the students to discover all the instruments that are in this facility. Up there, Constantino Muñoz Porcar presented a seminar on lidar techniques.

REALISTIC project and TwInSolar project (Mathieu David, Nóra Czakó, Charles Voivret) proposed a joint event at the end of the day and then shared a social dinner in La Marmite, in Saint-Gilles. TwInSolar also held a summer school this week and it was the opportunity for both projects to meet and explore possible future collaboration around the impact of aerosols on the PV production in la Réunion. We also had the intervention of Nicolas Schmutz from Reuniwatt, presenting the actions done by this company in La Réunion island.

In the afternoon, we were lucky to hear Sophie Godin-Beekmann and Alain Hauchecorne. Sophie Godin-Beekmann presented a talk on the "evolution of the ozone layer and its interaction with climate change." Alain Hauchecorne presented the lidar technology to monitor the middle atmosphere.

Scientists are decoding clouds from space to improve weather and climate predictions. Our FAAM Airborne Laboratory has teamed up with the new EarthCARE satellite to observe clouds. The research aircraft flies through the clouds, observing them from the inside, while the satellite looks at them from above - using advanced lidar and radar technology that has never been used in space before. Over its mission lifetime of three years, EarthCARE will advance our understanding of cloud properties and processes, paving the way for future discoveries in atmospheric science. We spoke to Kamil Mroz, a radiation and rainfall scientist at the National Centre for Earth Observation, about this research. _ This project is a collaboration between the FAAM Airborne Laboratory and the National Centre for Earth Observation, with support from the European Space Agency - ESA, JAXA: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, University of Leeds and University of Leicester. The FAAM Airborne Laboratory’s research aircraft is owned by UK Research and Innovation and NERC: Natural Environment Research Council and managed through the National Centre for Atmospheric Science.

The second day of the Maïdo Observatory Summer School (MOSS) started with a Satellite session and the enlighting presentations of Pierre Coheur, Jean-Paul Vernier and Jonas Von Bismarck. It was held at Village de Corail, in Saint-Gilles-les-Bains. Pierre's presentation: "Monitoring atmospheric composition using hyperspectral infrared sounding missions." Jean-Paul's presentation: "Global 3D observations of clouds and aerosols from space by the CALIOP lidar." Jonas Von Bismarck's presentation: "Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE)."

The first day ended with the presentation of Valentin Duflot, introducing the existing atmospheric research infrastructures to the students. ICOS - Integrated Carbon Observation System ACTRIS-RI IAGOS_RI

Jean-Paul Vernier then gave a historical overview of the earth's atmosphere seen from space and the future perspectives.

After a short break, Paola Formenti took the floor and presented a session on the lifecycle of atmospheric aerosols. Her talk focused on aerosol properties, lifecycle and impacts. Interesting talk for students to start the summer school on a good common basis.

LEROUX Marie-Dominique was our first speaker for the #MOSS2024. She talked about climate change over the Southwest Indian Ocean region and its islands. Very insightful!