Published popular science material deals with an important aspect of atmospheric physics - turbulence. Although most flows in nature are turbulent, our knowledge of turbulence in the atmosphere is still limited. In particular, little is known about how turbulence varies locally over time. In the featured video, dr Jakub Nowak and dr Marta Wacławczyk from the Institute of Geophysics the Faculty of Physics University of Warsaw describe their method for assessing turbulence states based on aerial measurements. They tested it on the example of measurements in stratocumulus clouds over the ocean. Analysis of data from a helicopter platform confirms the existence of non-stationary and non-equilibrium turbulence in these clouds. Future work will explore the applicability of these findings to other types of clouds and flows in the atmospheric boundary layer.

As part of the international NextGEMS project, a new generation of global coupled Earth system models is being developed to study anthropogenic climate change. These models are distinguished by their high resolution, similar to current weather forecast models (about 2.5 to 9 km in the horizontal direction). This allows for a more accurate representation of atmospheric and oceanic circulation and their coupling to processes such as carbon cycles, water circulation, and aerosol particles. The project is developing multi-decadal (30-year) forecasts of future climate change. NextGEMS is building a European community of scientists and users around the ambitious endeavor of climate change modeling.

Popular science material, created in cooperation with the platform Latest Thinking Gmbh, based on the scientific publication: "Detecting Nonequilibrium States in Atmospheric Turbulence" by Marta Waclawczyk, Jakub L. Nowak, Holger Siebert, Szymon P. Malinowski, Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 2022.

Material produced as part of the Next Generation Earth Modelling Systems (NextGEMS) project, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and Innovation 2014-2020 under grant agreement No. 101003470,

NextGEMS project coordinator at the UW: prof. dr hab. Hanna Pawlowska

Scientific consultation: dr Marta Wacławczyk, dr Jakub Nowak

Background picture: Satellite image of the atmosphere, Courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA