New in Wuppertal
How climate change can be better predicted
Physicist Prof Dr Emma Järvinen // Photo Friederike von Heyden
"Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing us humans," says Emma Järvinen. "We therefore need in-depth knowledge of atmospheric processes to solve this problem and I am trying to generate this knowledge through my research."
Her main focus is on ice clouds. "They are special because they can both cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight and warm it by trapping heat," explains the physicist. However, whether they have a greater cooling or warming effect depends on many factors, such as the position of the clouds, the time of day and even the shape of the ice crystals in them. "This makes ice clouds one of the biggest uncertainties in climate models."
The 35-year-old and her team use research flights into these clouds to investigate how the ice crystals interact with sunlight. "This helps us to improve climate models and better predict future climate changes. Our research could also be important for geoengineering approaches that deal with ice clouds, if such approaches are ever considered."
About the person
Emma Järvinen studied physics at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She completed her doctorate at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2016. She worked there for several years, most recently as head of a junior research group. In between, she spent almost two years as a postdoc at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), USA.
