CLOUDS, AEROSOL, RADIATION and CLIMATE

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

Clouds are a key factor in the processes that regulate the climate, given their influence on the energy balance and on the hydrological cycle. It is well recognized that determining to what extent clouds contribute to climate change is a difficult problem to solve due to the complexity of the processes in which they are involved (often also related to aerosols), and the uncertainty associated with the available data. With the general objective of reducing these difficulties, some researchers from the Environmental Physics Group have been developing a line of research focused on the climatology of cloud cover, solar radiation and insolation, on the observation and detection of clouds, and on their radiative effects on the solar and terrestrial bands, and recently, in the interaction with the atmospheric aerosol. The first steps in this line were developed in the framework of UdG's projects and other projects led by other institutions, in the late 90s and early 2000s. Since 2004, several projects financed by the competent Ministry in research have been chained (NUCLIER, NUCLIEREX, NUCLIERSOL, NUBESOL, NUBESOL-2). This website presents those projects.

In addition to the results of the investigation itself, which can be found in the corresponding section, it has been possible to consolidate a station for the observation of the state of the sky and for the determination of radiometric fluxes to a quality level equivalent to that of the worldwide BSRN network. The data obtained in this station have made it possible to advance in the understanding of the effects of clouds on radiation, both solar (in the visible and ultraviolet bands) and in the thermal infrared (atmospheric radiation). As a singularity, in this station there was installed the first "all-sky" camera in Spain (and one of the first in Europe). It provides images of the daytime sky, with minute resolution, since 2000, and night, since 2016. The ceilometer and the multi-channel rotating band spectrometer are other unique instruments at our station.

The research activities of this line fit into the challenge "Action on climate change and efficiency in the use of resources and raw materials" raised as a research priority by the Spanish State Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research (2017-2020), since it is intended to "generate knowledge about the causes of climate change including the processes, mechanisms, functioning and interactions of the atmosphere ”.