EGU26-19785, updated on 14 Mar 2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19785
EGU General Assembly 2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Poster | Monday, 04 May, 10:45–12:30 (CEST), Display time Monday, 04 May, 08:30–12:30
 
Hall X5, X5.72
Aerosol-Cloud Interaction over the Mediterranean using Active Remote Sensing
Iliana Koutsoupi1,2, Eleni Giannakaki1, Eleni Marinou2, Alessandro Battaglia3, Pavlos Kollias4, and Vassilis Amiridis2
Iliana Koutsoupi et al.
  • 1Department of Physics, Section of Environmental Physics-Meteorology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
  • 2Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens, Greece
  • 3Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin Italy
  • 4School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, New York, USA

The Mediterranean basin is recognized as a climate change hotspot, characterized by strong variability in clouds and aerosols driven by its special location, the combination of land-sea surfaces and the convergence of air masses of different origin. Aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) in this region remain poorly investigated, thus they represent a major source of uncertainty in regional climate models. Spaceborne active remote sensing provides the capability to simultaneously observe the vertical structure of clouds and aerosols, enabling the study of their physical properties and interactions.

In this work, observations from CloudSat’s Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) and the CALIPSO Lidar are used to investigate aerosol-cloud interactions over the Mediterranean. As a first step, an 11-year CloudSat dataset (2007-2017) is analyzed in order to comprehend the climatology of the Mediterranean cloud properties. Characteristics such as cloud occurrence, cloud types, seasonality, thermodynamic phase and cloud-top and cloud-base heights are examined to provide a foundation for subsequent ACI research.

A synergistic analysis of CloudSat and CALIPSO observations for the period 2007-2009 is conducted to investigate aerosol-cloud interactions. Specific filtering criteria are applied to ensure that selected cloud layers are influenced by distinct aerosol types, allowing a meaningful correlation between them. Particular emphasis is placed on mineral dust, a dominant aerosol species in the Mediterranean, frequently transported from lower latitudes and affecting both land and sea regions.

The spatial distributions of aerosols and clouds are analyzed and intercompared to identify coherent patterns that indicate their interaction. Results show a pronounced association between pure dust layers and high-level cloud types, particularly cirrus and altostratus, which present higher frequency of occurrence over land compared to marine regions. These findings suggest a link between dust presence and the formation or modification of ice and mixed-phase clouds in the Mediterranean region.

This work explores the potential to describe aerosol-cloud interactions through mathematical relationships, aiming to contribute toward a more quantitative representation of ACI in regional studies. The results highlight the value of active remote sensing for understanding aerosol-cloud processes in a climatically sensitive region such as the Mediterranean.

How to cite: Koutsoupi, I., Giannakaki, E., Marinou, E., Battaglia, A., Kollias, P., and Amiridis, V.: Aerosol-Cloud Interaction over the Mediterranean using Active Remote Sensing, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19785, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19785, 2026.