Ilona Riipinen (Professor in atmospheric science, Stockholm University)

The importance of climate feedbacks due to natural aerosols is expected to increase as anthropogenic air pollution is reduced. Estimates of the magnitude of these feedbacks deviate considerably at present: from practically negligible to substantial in the context of Earth’s radiation balance. The representation of aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) is an important contributor to this uncertainty. In my seminar, I will discuss some of our recent work on the key processes relevant for natural aerosol feedbacks, with a particular focus on forest environments. I will also present some of our recent work on evaluating the ability of present Earth System Models (ESMs) to represent these feedbacks, utilizing a combination of long-term in-situ observations and remote sensing data.

Ilona Riipinen is a professor in atmospheric science at Stockholm University, the director of Bolin Centre for Climate Research, and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. Her research work encompasses various aspects of atmospheric chemistry, aerosols, and clouds. She has published more than 160 peer-reviewed publications on the topic, and recently coordinated a large-scale European Commission project on representation FORCeS (https://forces-project.eu/), which focused on the representation and improvement of aerosol and cloud processes in ESMs.