Our main scientific objective is to quantify the feedbacks between the atmospheric processes, air quality and functioning of biosphere in changing climate. In order to do this, we will:
- Find out and quantify the main climatic feedbacks and forcing mechanisms related to aerosols, clouds, precipitation, biosphere-atmosphere and cryosphere-atmosphere interactions
- Develop, refine and utilize the newest measurement techniques and modeling tools scaling from quantum chemistry to global Earth System Observations and Models
- Create a deep and quantitative understanding on the role of atmospheric clusters and aerosol particles in local and global biogeochemical cycles of water, carbon, sulfur and nitrogen and their linkages to the atmospheric chemistry and air quality, and
- Integrate the results in the context of regional and global scale Earth system understanding.
Our multidisciplinary research team includes some 260 scientists working in the fields of physics, chemistry, forest sciences, meteorology and environmental sciences at the Universities of Helsinki. We are leading Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center Flagship (visit ACCC flagship web pages). Our work is based on a network of field stations (see infrastructure) producing extensive long-term data on atmospheric properties and ecological mass fluxes in different types of environments and regions, including Arctic, boreal and tropical ecosystems, remote sensing and on focused experiments and modeling aimed at understanding the observed patterns.