Theses Topics

Students are welcome at IAP. Topics for bachlor or master theses can be found in the following list. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact the persons mentioned below each project.

1. Climate change impact on vertical wave coupling: Atmospheric tides are global-scale waves that propagate from the lower to the upper atmosphere. Tidal waves are known to be an important driver of space weather changes. This project examines the impact of climate change on tidal waves. The response of tidal waves to increasing levels of CO2 is examined using the whole atmosphere model UA-ICON. (Dr. Yosuke Yamazaki, Satellite Data Analysis)
2. How to model atmospheric tides – insights from unique nudging experiments: Nudging refers to constraining a numerical simulation of the atmosphere to a predefined state, usually relying on meteorological reanalysis products that represent past atmospheric conditions. Nudging the model state to a reanalysis product in the troposphere and stratosphere can, at least partly, constrain also the model dynamics in the mesosphere and thermosphere, because nudging can enforce realistic sources and propagation environments for atmospheric tides, planetary waves and resolved gravity waves. One motivation for this approach is the reproduction of observed variability in layers above the nudging domain, here in the mesosphere and thermosphere. However, the success of this approach depends on the cadence of the reanalysis product and the strength of the nudging. This project will conduct a unique set of numerical experiments, nudging the model to its own synthetic meteorology. The aim is to quantify and understand the sensitivities of tidal amplitudes and phases in the mesosphere and thermosphere to the nudging. Nudging methods are used to compensate for the much lower availability of observations in the upper atmosphere - compared to the lower atmosphere. (Prof. Dr. Claudia Stephan, Modelling of Atmospheric Processes)
3. How to pick the right satellite orbit?: Satellite science missions are expensive and must be carefully optimized in their planning phase to achieve the most useful measurements when they fly. IAP are involved in a satellite mission conducted by the European Space Agency, which will measure the chemistry and dynamics of the mesosphere and thermosphere. This project will simulate what the satellite instruments would see assuming different hypothetical orbit configurations. (Prof. Dr. Claudia Stephan, Modelling of Atmospheric Processes)
4. Statistical properties of sudden stratospheric warmings: This large-scale circulation anomaly has its strongest expression in the middle atmosphere, but also leaves its imprints in the layers below and above. Statistical properties of sudden stratospheric warmings are determined from reanalysis data – a valuable information source for local observations. Does it make a difference whether a sudden warming is centered over Siberia or Canada? – this is what we want to find out. (Dr. Christoph Zülicke, Modelling of Atmospheric Processes)
5. Benchmarking of Background Determination Approaches: To determine gravity waves, background fields need to be removed from measurements. Ideally, this is done using horizontally and/or vertically averaged fields, but at least horizontal fields are not available for point measurements (e.g. by lidars). For this reason, 24-hour time series of point measurements in summer and winter for Kühlungsborn or Alomar are first artificially generated from wind/temperature fields of the global models KMCM or ICON. These will then be used to test various approaches for determining background fields that can be used for lidar measurements. (Dr. Urs Schaefer Rolffs, Modelling of Atmospheric Processes, und Dr. Irina Strelnikova, Optical and Rocket Soundings)
6. Setup of aircraft and cloud detection for lidar based on IR cameras: Lidar operators have to take care of the safety of the airspace. In this study, software shall be developed for automatic identification of airplanes in IR camera images. False-positive events (e.g., seeds flying through the field of view) shall be minimized while keeping the false-negative rate low. Furthermore, the potential of IR cameras for cloud identification shall be examined. (Dr. Michael Gerding, Optical and Rocket Soundings)
7. NLC statistics from machine-learning based evaluation of camera images: IAP operates different cameras for the detection of Noctilucent Clouds (NLC) at various locations. In this study, first a machine-learning algorithm for the automated identification of NLC in nighttime images shall be developed. The algorithm shall then be utilized for the statistical evaluation of the multi-year data set. Hemispheric and latitudinal differences shall be examined. (Prof. Dr. Gerd Baumgarten, Optical and Rocket Soundings)
8. Comparison of the Li and Na layers in the mesopause region: The so-called metal layer in the mesopause region contains, among others, Li and Na in their atomic forms. Recently, Li gained a lot of interest as a potential indicator for pollution from space debris reentering the atmosphere, while Na is expected to be entirely of natural meteoric origin. We set up a lidar for the first simultaneous soundings of Li and Na. Within this study, soundings with the metal lidar shall be conducted and the differences in spatio-temporal variations of Li and Na be examined. (Dr. Michael Gerding, Optical and Rocket Soundings)
9. Validation of momentum flux estimates using high resolution model simulations: Mesosphere and lower thermosphere dynamics are primarily driven by momentum redistribution through atmospheric waves. Despite the growing use of multistatic specular meteor radars (MSMRs) for estimating momentum fluxes at these altitudes (~75 – 100 km), the reliability of these estimates has not been assessed yet. To address this, we plan to place the MSMR geometries and their meteor sampling distributions onto the UA-ICON (simulated) atmosphere to measure the momentum fluxes in the same way as MSMRs conduct the actual measurements. Since we know the dynamics simulated by UA-ICON, we can thus assess how well they are retrieved by the methods usually applied to the MSMR observations. (Dr. Federico Conte, Radar Remote Sensing)

If you are interested in these theses or in student research projects or internships, you can also contact the heads of the research devisions directly:

• Optical and Rocket Soundings (Prof. Dr. Gerd Baumgarten)
• Radar Remote Sensing (Prof. Dr. Jorge Chau)
• Modelling of Atmospheric Processes (Prof. Dr. Claudia Stephan)
• Satellte Data Analysis (Dr. Astrid Maute).