News
Mia’s Climate Diary – Drawing Competition for Children
We are happy to announce the Mia’s Climate Diary drawing competition! Children aged 6 to 12 are invited to draw themselves together with Mia and Mika in their favourite season and add 1–2 sentences explaining why they like this season.
Parents can take a photo or scan of the drawing and upload it via the online form on our website. The competition runs from 01.12.2025 to 31.12.2025. After the deadline, we will review all entries and inform the winners.
The main prize is a children’s weather station, and there will be additional climate-themed board games to win. Further details, including legal information and data protection, can be found here: https://mias-klimatagebuch.de/mias-malwettbewerb/
We are really looking forward to many colorful and creative entries! The Mia's Climate Dairy Team
Published: 2025-12-01
By: Marlen Brückner
Polar 5 campaign COMPEX-EC in Kiruna
The COMPEX-EC campaign (Clouds over cOMPlEX environment – EarthCARE) is currently taking place in Kiruna, Sweden, from April 2 to 16, 2025. Scientists from the Universities of Cologne and Leipzig will conduct an EarthCARE validation campaign using the Alfred Wegener Institute’s Polar 5 research aircraft. Equipped with an array of cloud remote sensing instruments, we will conduct research flights along the orbit of the overflying EarthCARE satellite to validate its performance.
Stay tuned for some impressions and regular updates from Kiruna via the Blog:
https://blog.uni-koeln.de/awares/category/campaigns-conf/compex-ec/
Published: 2025-04-07
By: Marlen Brückner
IOP4H2O Campaign at AWIPEV Station in Ny-Ålesund
The IOP4H2O campaign took place at the AWIPEV station in Ny-Ålesund from 20. January – 10. March 2025. Researchers from the University of Cologne and the University of Leipzig from the (AC)³ E05 project intensively investigated humidity and temperature profiles for detailed sublimation processes using various instruments. In addition to the routine measurements at the AWIPEV station (https://www.awipev.eu/), the scientists installed a W-, Ka- and G-band cloud radar, as well as a laser precipitation monitor and snow-particle-counter. Furthermore, the measurements were accompanied by an additional 78 radiosonde ascents. The range of weather conditions was very wide with rain and +4°C, storms with winds up to 30 m/s, snow, cirrus as well as EarthCARE and HALO overflights. The evaluation of the data obtained is therefore very promising.
Green laser beam from AWIPEV station lidar together with the green laser light from the VISSS instrument (Photo: Andreas Walbröl).
Snow storm at AWIPEV station (photo: Andreas Foth).
Launching radiosondes from AWIPEV station (photo: Andreas Foth).
Published: 2025-03-10
By: Marlen Brückner
Events
4th (AC)³ Science Conference on Arctic Amplification in Cologne
Our 4th (AC)³ Science Conference will take place in Cologne, Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, Pohligstr. 3, from 23 - 26 February 2026.
We will also invite some members of our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) to give keynote talks and to help us planning the final two years of (AC)³. The structure of the conference contains two parts. In Part I, specific scientific highlights of our research will be presented in three sessions focusing on aerosol particles, sea ice processes, and mixed-phase clouds. Part II will be organized in three sessions on the Strategic Questions (SQs) that we have promised to answer until the end of (AC)³. The program includes most importantly your contributions (oral or poster), and in addition renowned international keynote talks (SAB members), discussion panels, CCAs, an inspiring Monday evening talk, vibrant social events, and two poster sessions.
Active participation from all of you (including all subprojects) — whether by oral presentations or in poster sessions — is strongly encouraged to further develop the exciting research topics of the current project phase together. In particular, project PIs are invited to take the lead in guiding discussions and shaping outcomes in Part II.
The Call for Abstracts is now open until 5 December 2025. Please submit your abstract using the templates via the following link to Marlen Brückner. The conference booklet will be distributed to the participants at the registration both in hard-copy and electronic versions. The abstracts will not be published elsewhere.
The final program will be available by the end of 2025.
Registration:
Registration opens after the deadline for submitting abstracts.
Published: 2025-10-28
By: Marlen Brückner
ICON training course in Cologne
The first ICON workshop from project Z04 on ‘ICON for observationalists’ will take place in Cologne from 1 - 3 December 2025.
The programm can be found here soon.
Published: 2025-11-04
By: Marlen Brückner
COMPEX Meeting in Cologne
COMPEX planning meeting will take place in Cologne from 17 - 18 November 2025.
Topics for the workshop: research interests and expectations from COMPEX campaign, logistical aspects, MSS and flight planning, weather forecast, ac3airborne and flight segmentation, modelling activities, outreach ideas, wiki and data storage, instrument presentations, etc.
The programm can be found here soon.
Published: 2025-11-04
By: Marlen Brückner
(AC)³ Online lecture: “Ocean Color Remote Sensing”
IRTG online lectures
Published: 2025-11-03
By: Christa Genz
(AC)³ Online lecture: “Comparing models and observations in the Arctic”
IRTG online lectures
Published: 2025-10-06
By: Christa Genz
(AC)³ General Assembly in Potsdam
(AC)³ autumn General Assembly took place in Potsdam, Wissenschaftsetage, from 23 – 25 September 2025.
Special Event: EOB Movie Event at THALIA Programmkino
The (AC)³ EOB is pleased to show you the movie “Picture a Scientist” at the THALIA cinema. Afterwards we would like to have a panel discussion with you, moderated by Juliane Handschuh, to reflect on your impressions of the movie and your experiences. Before the screening there will be finger food and soft drinks in the foyer of the movie theater. The event is funded by equality funds. (AC)³ covers the cost of catering via central funds.
The programm can be found here.
Published: 2025-08-28
By: Marlen Brückner
ATM registration open
Registration for our joint (AC)³ and LGS-CAR Advanced Training Module (ATM) on ‘Arctic midlatitude linkages’ is open now.
»more information
»registration
Published: 2025-09-16
By: Johannes Röttenbacher
(AC)³ Online lecture: “TBA”
IRTG online lectures
Published: 2025-09-01
By: Christa Genz
(AC)³ Online lecture: “Climate feedbacks in the Arctic”
IRTG online lectures
Published: 2025-06-02
By: Christa Genz
(AC)³ Online lecture: “Optical properties of sea ice – measurements on different scales”
IRTG online lectures
Sea ice is a key element in controlling the energy exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean in ice-covered waters. The albedo-temperature feedback is the most prominent positive feedback contributing to Arctic warming and amplification. In this lecture, I will introduce the background and theory of optical properties of sea ice (and snow) and show how these optical properties are measured across spatial and temporal scales. I will present exemplary and recent results and discuss the main aspects for successful measurements.
Published: 2025-05-15
By: Christa Genz
Winter school on ‘Causes, contributions, and trends to Arctic Amplification’
23 -29 March 2025, Hyytiälä, Finland
The winter school is an advanced course intended for graduate students and researchers who want to receive up-to-date knowledge on Arctic amplification, with a specific focus on causes, contributions, and trends. The course is structured around a combination of lectures and hands-on experience using data from research-grade radars, in situ sensors and state-of-the-art models. The course topics include: surface and airborne energy budget measurements, cloud and precipitation processes, aerosol-cloud and atmosphere-ice-ocean interactions, remote sensing of the atmosphere and ocean, Arctic boundary layer processes and surface energy fluxes as well as the Arctic water cycle.
The program can be found here.
Information on Hyytiälä Forestry Field Station can be found here.
Published: 2025-03-23
By: Christa Genz
ATM registration open
Registration for our joint (AC)³ and LGS-CAR Advanced Training Module (ATM) on ‘Arctic midlatitude linkages’ is open now.
»more information
»registration
Published: 2024-10-16
By: Johannes Röttenbacher
