You will earn 6 research credits over 8 weeks, conducting a faculty-supervised, hands-on, directed study research project with results that will culminate in the preparation of a research paper.
You will complete a minimum of 240 hours on research in and out of the laboratory.
To prepare for this experience you will speak with your research mentor before arriving in Spain to work on a literature review.
| Course ID | Title | Credits | Syllabus |
| GRAN RSLW 392S | International Independent Research in STEM Fields | 6 |
Atmospheric air masses play a crucial role determining local meteorological conditions as well as favoring the transport of pollutants far from their source. For example, air masses that have overpassed desert areas are able to transport huge amounts of dust particles as far as thousands of kilometers (Cazorla et al., 2017; Titos et al., 2017 and references therein). Similarly, atmospheric pollutants emitted in pollution hot spots are able to travel and have an impact in the air-quality of distant areas. On the other hand, clean air masses are able to have a beneficial impact in the air-quality of the area. Recent studies have suggested that atmospheric patterns may be changing due to climate change promoting a higher influence of certain air masses. In particular, in the Mediterranean region Salvador et al. (2022) showed an increase in the frequency and strength of African air masses over the last 70 years.
Within this project, we will investigate the main air masses affecting southern Spain over the last 20 years using meteorological data and air-mass backtrajectory analysis. We will determine the frequency of occurrence of the different atmospheric scenarios, investigate their temporal evolution and their strength.
References:
Cazorla, A. et al., Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 11861–11876, (2017)
Salvador, P. et al., Climate and Atmospheric Science volume 5, Article number: 34 (2022)
Titos, G. et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, 122, doi: 10.1002/2016JD026252 (2017)
Atmospheric aerosol is the suspension of solid or liquid particles in the atmosphere. These particles are of great importance for the Earth radiative budget and, therefore, the climate. Aerosol particles affect directly the earth-atmosphere radiative budget by scattering (cooling effect) and absorption (warming effect) of the solar radiation. These processes depend on the emission sources and the atmospheric processing that the particles undergo, determining the size and chemical composition of the particles.
There are different measurement techniques that provide complementary information of the impact of aerosol particles on climate. On the one hand, with ground in-situ measurement techniques we can obtain information about the chemical composition, optical properties, particle size, etc. with high temporal resolution but limited to the lower part of the atmosphere in contact with the surface. On the other hand, passive remote sensing techniques provide atmospheric column integrated measurements of optical properties but with limited time resolution and, generally, only for clear sky conditions.
Several international networks provide high quality data with global coverage, which is necessary for climate studies. For in-situ measurements, some of these networks are ACTRIS (Aerosols, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure) (Pandolfi et al., 2019), NFAN (NOAA Federated Aerosol Network) (Andrews et al., 2019) or GAW (Global Atmospheric Watch) (Laj et al., 2020). For passive remote sensing, we have AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) (Holben et al., 1998). Data from these networks are collected in open repositories such as ebas (http://ebas.nilu.no) and AERONET (https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/).
The student in this project
References:
Andrews, E., et al., 2019. Overview of the NOAA/ESRL federated aerosol network. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 100, 123–135. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0175.1.
Holben et al., 1998. AERONET—A Federated Instrument Network and Data Archive for Aerosol Characterization. Rem. Sen. Env. 66-1, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(98)00031-5
Laj, P., et al., 2020. A global analysis of climate-relevant aerosol properties retrieved from the network of GAW near-surface observatories. Atmos. Meas. Tech., 2020, 1–70. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2019-499
Pandolfi, M., et al., 2018. A European aerosol phenomenology - 6: scattering properties of atmospheric aerosol particles from 28 ACTRIS sites. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 18, 7877–7911. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-7877-2018.
Air pollution is a risk factor for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and also for cancer. Emissions from road traffic have been associated with an increase in mortality, lung cancer and a general deterioration of the respiratory system. The concentration of a certain pollutant in the atmosphere depends on (1) the emission sources and their distance and (2) meteorological conditions. That is why the concentrations of the different atmospheric pollutants have large spatio-temporal variability. Knowing the temporal evolution and the strength of the main sources of pollutants can help to design more effective action plans to reduce air pollution.
Granada, despite being a medium-sized and non-industrialized city, is among the three Spanish cities with the highest level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution (Casquero-Vera et., 2019). The high concentrations of NO2, as well as of particles, are mainly due to traffic emissions (Casquero-Vera et al., 2021). In addition to the particle emissions caused by road traffic are added the emissions from domestic heating (fuel oil) and biomass burning (either for heating or burning stubble), especially during winter (Titos et al., 2017). In this sense, the intensity of sources presents a seasonality and long-term measurements can provide us information about changes on anthropogenic pollution sources (for example an increase/decrease of traffic or biomass burning emissions). Thus, this study will focus on investigating the temporal variability of the different sources of pollutants in the urban area of Granada that will provide useful information to plan further actions to effectively mitigate air pollution.
Today Climate change is affecting all regions in the World, causing a wide range of impacts on society and the environment. Further impacts are expected in the future, potentially causing high damage costs. In this regard, the European Union has developed a European Strategy on adaptation to Climate Change. However, to be able to take decisions on how best to adapt, it is essential to understand atmospheric processes. For example, the influence of particles suspended in the air on clouds remains still blurred for the scientific community and thus, it is a research field in the spotlight of science. Researchers at IISTA-CEAMA are currently working on this topic. To do so, they use lidar and radar measurements to characterize the aerosols and clouds at different temperatures. This project is now open to pro-active students interested on instrument operation (e.g., lidar and radar) and data analysis with Python. The student will directly operate research instrumentation together the responsible researchers, will analyze measurements to determine the spatiotemporal distribution of aerosols and clouds to identify situations where the atmospheric aerosols interacts with clouds.
During the last decades scientists are improving their understanding of Earth' s climate system thanks to NASA space missions with special emphasis on the A-Train satellite constellation. Nevertheless, the current challenges in climate sciences requires new satellite developments and implies international cooperation between international space agencies (e.g. ESA, JAXA and similar). Such cooperation permits the implementation of the latest technologies in passive remote sensing to characterize atmosphere composition. Although remote sensing via satellite are unique in their spatial and temporal coverage, such measurements need to be validated. To solve these limitations, ground-based networks have been implemented through international cooperation, and many of them hosted by NASA.
The Aerosol Robotic NETwork (AERONET) is an international network with headquarters in NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. With more than 400 instruments worldwide distributed, AERONET main objective is to study columnar aerosol properties using the well-known sun-photometry technique and uses the standard instrument CIMEL CE-318. AERONET success in providing both optical and microphysical properties of aerosol and serves for decades as reference for validating satellite aerosol products. On the other hand, the NASA Pandora Project is part of Pandonia Global Networks which a collaboration between NASA and ESA towards establishing long-term fixed locations focused on providing long-term quality observations of total column of a range of trace gases.
The objective of this research and training proposal is to familiarize in the use of
AERONET and Pandonia data for evaluating satellite data for satellite validation. Students will familiarize with current and future space missions and their needs of validation, and also with the use of ground-based networks for studying extreme events (e.g. intense pollution, volcanic eruption, Saharan dust storms, biomass burning). We plan that students become familiar with the installation of AERONET and Pandora standard instruments. No special mathematical background is needed although it is expected preliminary skills in data visualization. We expect that students develop additional skills in the communication of extreme events via social networks.
Understanding Earth ́s Atmosphere composition and dynamics requires precise knowledge of global temperature and radiation profiles, water vapor content and wind. Classically, such measurements were acquired by radiosondes but limited to some places in the world and launches at certain periods. The development of microwave radiometer technique is allowing continuous monitoring of such thermodynamics atmospheric variables. In this sense, NASA launched in 2002 the Aqua satellite which deployed the Atmospheric Infrared Sounders (AIRS). AIRS and its partner instrument AMSU are observing and characterizing the entire atmospheric column from Earth's surface to the top of the atmosphere in terms of surface emissivity and temperature, atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, cloud amount and height, and spectral outgoing infrared radiation. These data and scientific investigations will answer long-standing questions about the exchange and transformation of energy and radiation in the atmosphere and at Earth’s surface.
However, any satellite product must be validated from ground-based measurements because of the complexity of satellite instruments and of inversion techniques. In this sense, for validation of AIRS data the Department of Energy of the United States through the ARM program deployed supersites with many remote sensing instrumentations for the validation of AIRS. On the other hand, E-PROFILE, which is part of the EUMETNET Composite Observing System, is a European networks of radar wind profilers (RWP) and automatic lidars and ceilometers (ALC) for the monitoring of vertical profiles of atmosphere thermodynamics variables. The objective of this research and training proposal is to familiarize in the use of AIRS data using the online tools developed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The students will also become familiar with ARM program and E-PROFILE for the validation of AIRS products. It is also planned the characterization of atmospheric thermodynamics state at extreme events such as hurricanes, dust transport or droughts. No special mathematical background is needed although it is expected preliminary skills in data visualization. We expect that students develop additional skills in the communication of extreme events via social networks.
Water vapor, representing approximately 0.25% of the mass of the atmosphere, is a highly variable constituent, with concentrations ranging from around 10 parts per million by volume (ppmv) in the coldest regions of Earth's atmosphere, up to 5% by volume in hot and humid environments, therefore with a range of more than three orders of magnitude.
Water vapor is an atmospheric component of vital importance on Earth, as it is a key in the climate, the hydrological cycle and the maintenance of the Earth's temperature within a range that allows life as we know it. Furthermore, water vapor condensed on sulfate particles and other hygroscopic particles can significantly increase the aerosol optical thickness of the atmosphere and thus reduce atmospheric transmittance.
The direct and indirect influence of water vapor on weather, climate and the environment is so important that there is great interest in techniques to infer its vertical distribution and its total abundance in the vertical atmospheric column. This research project focuses on the total abundance of water vapor in the atmospheric column, defined as the thickness of a layer of liquid water that would result if all the water vapor in the vertical column of the atmosphere were brought to the surface at temperature and standard pressure. Depending on the technique used for its determination, it is called in various ways as total column water vapor, integrated water vapor (IWV), precipitable water (PW) and integrated precipitable water (IPW).
The general objective of this research project is to explore the determination of the water vapor content of the atmosphere using low-cost techniques based on infrared thermometers. For this we intend, on the one hand, to study the water vapor content at different time scales using solar photometry, microwave radiometry (subject to availability) and ECMWF data and, on the other, to calibrate a low-cost device to generate time series of water vapor content by infrared thermometry. Finally, it is intended to design a laboratory practice on this topic, which can be used in different subjects such as 'Atmospheric Physics' (degree in Physics), 'Meteorology and Climatology' (degree in Environmental Sciences) and 'Remote sensing' (master's degree in Geophysics and Meteorology).
The study will use water vapor content data obtained from a solar photometer and a microwave radiometer (subject to availability) routinely operated at the Interuniversity Institute for Earth System Research in Andalusia (IISTA-CEAMA) in the framework of the AERONET network of NASA and MWRNET of ACTRIS, respectively, and from the ECMWF. In addition, the student will carry out their own measurements with a low-cost infrared thermometer covering different time scales.
The methodology for the development of this project will cover the following stages:
The research will be performed in the IISTA under the supervisor of Juan Antonio Bravo Aranda and Juan Luis Guerrero Rascado, two enthusiastic researchers moved by the love to the meteorology and the curiosity for the unknown beyond the state-of-the-art.
The atmosphere is composed of gases, clouds and aerosol particles. Aerosols are minute particles suspended in the atmosphere. Aerosols interact both directly and indirectly with the Earth's radiation budget and climate. They are a key component of the atmosphere since they scatter and absorb sunlight. Their scattering of sunlight can reduce visibility (haze) and redden sunrises and sunsets. As an indirect effect, aerosols in the lower atmosphere are responsible for cloud formation and can modify the properties of cloud particles. However, they are very difficult to characterize because of their large spatial and temporal variability. Because of this, there is still a gap of knowledge related to aerosol particles and their impact on climate change. A better characterization of their spatial and temporal distribution based on experimental data is key to understand and mitigate climate change.
17 years of measurements using sun photometer measurements are available at Granada. Sun photometers are remote sensors that can measure the aerosol load in the atmosphere and their properties from the Earth’s surface. Using these properties, it is possible to distinguish the different aerosol types in the atmosphere and their effects. The sun-photometer at Granada is included in AERONET NASA’s network, which is a worldwide network that provides global information about aerosol properties. The goal of this project is to characterize the aerosol types in the city of Granada and their temporal variation during the past 17 years. The analysis can also be extended to other stations in any part of the world using AERONET data.
In this research project, we aim to learn how to exploit the database from AERONET sun photometers, to apply aerosol typing classification schemes and to analyze the temporal trends of aerosol properties. This will allow us to characterize aerosol composition and temporal variations over the city of Granada.
The research will be performed under the supervision of María José Granados Muñoz (PhD) and Juan Antonio Bravo Aranda (PhD), in the IISTA, where the students will have the opportunity to work with all the available instrumentation and do hands-on training with the instruments and databases. IISTA is a state-of-the-art atmospheric research center where great aerosol experts and young students and researchers work together in a great environment, so we are looking for motivated candidates with team play skills.
Aerosols are small particles, with sizes below the a few microns, suspended in the atmosphere. They interact both directly and indirectly with the Earth's radiation budget and climate. As a direct effect, the aerosols scatter and absorb the sunlight reaching the surface. As an indirect effect, aerosols affect cloud formation and properties. They come from many different sources that may have either natural or human-made origin. Because of this, they present a large spatio-temporal variability that makes aerosol one of the atmospheric component most difficult to study.
Among aerosols from natural origin, volcanic aerosol layers are of great interest. They may be ejected to large altitudes reaching the stratosphere after major volcanic eruptions like Mt. Pinatubo. They may also stay in the lower part of the atmosphere, the troposphere, interacting with radiation and causing air quality to degrade. Volcanic aerosol layers are actually formed by sulphates forming from sulfur dioxide gas and larger particles forming ashes. A better understanding of the atmosphere and processes occurring within is key to understand the spread of volcanic plumes and mitigate their effects on both air quality and the Earth’s radiation budget. Dispersion models and remote sensing observations from space using satellites are key to analyze these processes.
NASA has been sending out to space Earth-observing satellite missions to obtain comprehensive global observations of our home planet for many years. Many of these missions are usually grouped forming satellite constellations that combine information from multiple sensors, both active and passive. This synergy among the different missions allows studying interactions that are not visible by the independent instruments on-board each satellite, allowing us to obtain more information about the atmosphere than the one provided by each mission independently. One of the greatest strengths of NASA is that this information is publicly available and they provide multiple user-friendly tools to analyze it.
The Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model is a tool developed by the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory that helps to explain how, when, and where potentially harmful materials are transported, dispersed and deposited in the atmosphere. Having this information is essential for responding appropriately and preventing disaster related to volcanic eruptions.
In this research project, we aim to combine the information about the air masses moving from the volcanic eruption in La Palma, Spain, in 2021, with satellite measurements to analyze how the ejected volcanic aerosol moved towards Europe. We will learn how to exploit NASA’s satellite visualization tools and the HYSPLIT dispersion model to study the effects of the volcanic aerosols and their impacts at further regions. For this purpose, we will use NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) tool in combination with NASA’s Giovanni system and the HYSPLIT dispersion model.
During COVID lockdown restrictions applied almost worldwide in 2020 an experimental scenario for the analysis of the impact of limiting traffic and industrial activities to their minimum was created. Pollution levels decreased in different regions and these reductions were clearly observed using remote sensing observations from space. However, after two years the industrial and traffic activities are recovered and pollution levels have rapidly grown back to pre-COVID levels and it remains uncertain if these levels are even higher.
Satellites are equipped either with active or passive remote sensors that provide valuable information by interacting with the atmosphere through radiation. In the case of passive instruments, radiation emitted or reflected from the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface is detected, in one or more spectral bands—i.e. a range of microwave, infrared, visible, or ultraviolet wavelengths. Depending on the spectral band, scientist can obtain information about the state of the atmosphere (chemical composition, concentrations, absorption, etc.) Some bands are relatively broad (as for imaging instruments), while others are extremely narrow (as for several thermal infrared-detecting instruments). In the case of active instruments, they emit an energy pulse and measure the energy reflected (or backscattered) to the sensor. The study of these return pulses allows creating three-dimensional profiles of clouds and aerosol properties, among other components.
NASA has been sending out to space Earth-observing satellite missions to obtain comprehensive global observations of our home planet for many years. Many of these missions are usually grouped forming satellite constellations that combine information from multiple sensors, both active and passive. This synergy among the different missions allows studying interactions that are not visible by the independent instruments on-board each satellite, allowing us to obtain more information about the atmosphere than the one provided by each mission independently. One of the greatest strengths of NASA is that this information is publicly available and they provide multiple user-friendly tools to analyze it.
In this research project, we aim to learn how to exploit these tools for the visualization and analysis of satellite data from NASA constellations to improve the knowledge we have about our atmosphere and the basics for understanding climate change. More specifically, we aim to analyze pollution levels in pre-, during and post-COVID lockdown taking advantage of the unique atmospheric experimental scenario created in 2022. For this purpose, we will use NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) tool in combination with NASA’s Giovanni system to analyze different phenomena affecting our atmosphere on specific regions of interest.
The following information is vetted and provided by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) on the Electronic Database for Global Education (EDGE).
| Spanish | Abbreviation | Translation | Numeric | U.S. Equivalent |
| Sobresaliente | SB | Outstanding | 9 - 10 | A |
| Notable | NT | Very Good | 7 - 8.99 | B+ |
| Bien | B | Good | 6 - 6.99 | B |
| Aprobado | AP | Passing | 5 - 5.99 | C |
| Suspenso | S/I | Fail | 0 - 4.99 | F |