Leibniz Science Campus Bio Smoke

The interactions of different components of the Earth system, such as between the biosphere and the atmosphere, are still poorly understood, especially, in the context of rapid climate change. Drought and land-use change resulting from more frequent climate extremes increase the risk of wildfires. Such fires and the emitted smoke particles and gases, in turn, affect air quality, the Earth’s radiation balance, and vegetation patterns. 
The Leibniz ScienceCampus "Smoke and Bioaerosols in Climate Change" (LSC BioSmoke) investigates the links between wildfires and climate change by enhancing the understanding of the connections between biodiversity and type of vegetation, the emission of smoke and primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP), and the atmospheric distribution and processing of these particles and gases.

Therefore, the LSC BioSmoke combines the expertise in atmospheric and biodiversity research at Leipzig University; aerosols, clouds and atmospheric related processes at TROPOS; and biomass combustion analysis at DBFZ to clarify the control factors and the effects of the release of aerosol particles from vegetation. The projects within the LSC focus on combustion experiments in the laboratory, field measurements of (bio)-aerosol properties, and the remote sensing and modelling of particle emission, transport, and atmospheric effects.

Contribution of Department

TROPOS acts as leading Leibniz Institute of the LSC BioSmoke. The remote sensing department contributes to the following work packages (WPs):

WP 2.2: Smoke and PBAP in the troposphere-stratosphere interface
In many cases, smoke or bioaerosol in the atmosphere occurs together with other aerosol species, such as mineral dust, volcanic and marine particles or anthropogenic pollution. The fluorescence lidar technique is used to detect and unambiguously identify smoke and bioaerosol layers throughout the whole troposphere and up to the lower stratosphere. Thus, the abundance of these aerosol types in the atmosphere over Leipzig shall be characterized and their impacts on cloud formation shall be investigated.