Atmospheric Remote Sensing group

Year 2018 starts with major organisational changes at the FMI. These changes include the formation of the Earth Observation Research unit. The newly-formed unit includes three research groups: Cryospheric Processes, Atmospheric Remote Sensing, and Greenhouse Gases and Satellite Methods. The new research unit focuses on remote sensing of atmospheric composition and cryosphere as well as development of retrieval methods, and thus provides opportunities for highly enhanced research collaboration. Following these changes, this website will not be updated in the future.

Sanna-Mari Päivärinta successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled Roles of Sudden Stratospheric Warming Events and Energetic Particle Precipitation in the Polar Middle Atmosphere: Odd Nitrogen and Ozone. Dr. Hauke Schmidt from Max Planck Institute for Meteorology acted as the opponent. Congratulations, Sanna! Download the thesis from here.

Dr. Daniel Marsh, from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (Colorado, USA), visited our group on 10-19 October to work together with Pekka, Niilo, and Erkki. His visit focused on the developement of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) and our on-going research collaboration, in the context of solar energetic particle precipitation affecting the atmosphere.

Dr. Janne Hakkarainen has been selected as one of the 10 finalists for the Skolar Award at the startup event Slush 2017. Janne proposes to identify the main regions of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from space-based observations. The Skolar Award is a science pitching competition for novel research proposals, and the pitches of the finalists take place at Slush 2017, 1.12.2017. Congratulations, Janne, and best of luck in the final!

Newly published Science special issue on OCO-2 sheds light upon the global carbon cycle from a variety of perspectives, highlighting the versatility of OCO-2 data. Dr. Janne Hakkarainen and prof. Johanna Tamminen contributed in the OCO-2 overview paper by establishing a methodology for direct observations of anthropogenic carbon dioxide signature from satellite data. Congratulations on this prestigious publication, Janne and Johanna!

12 successful years of discoveries with the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) are now summarised in an overview article. The paper is co-authored by several members of the Atmospheric Remote Sensing group, and is currently in review in the inter-journal ACP/AMT Special Issue "Ten years of Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) observations". The Special Issue features close to 40 submitted scientific articles on OMI.

As a group, we look forward to the launch of Sentinel 5 Precursor TROPOMI, which builds upon the rich heritage from OMI, on Friday 13th October, 2017, at 12.27 (EEST). Finnish Meteorological Institute is responsible for the UV radiation data products from TROPOMI observations.

PhD student Erkka Heino (UNIS) visited our group for three weeks in August 2017. He worked with Pekka on WACCM-D ionospheric simulations and comparisons against ground-based observations of cosmic radio noise absorption during solar proton events.

Dr. Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa, professor at the University of Alberta, Canada, visited our group at the FMI on 21–22 June, 2017. The visit was hosted by Dr. Janne Hakkarainen, who organized a small greenhouse gas -oriented workshop at the FMI for the occasion, where Arturo presented his ongoing research on tropical dry forests. Preliminary plans were made for collaborative research combining in situ measurements and satellite retrievals of carbon dioxide.

Dr. Chris O'Dell and Rob Nelson visited FMI on 12 June, 2017, after the IWGGMS-13 meeting in Helsinki. Chris and Rob work on the OCO-2 algorithm team, and were here to discuss ongoing collaboration with Dr. Hannakaisa Lindqvist on a project that uses data from GOSAT and OCO-2 satellites.

A team led by prof. Johanna Tamminen from the Remote Sensing group is granted partnership in the Academy of Finland's Centre of Excellence in Inverse Modelling and Imaging for years 2018–2025. Other partners in this Centre of Excellence are teams at the University of Helsinki, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Aalto University, University of Eastern Finland, University of Oulu, Tampere University of Technology and University of Jyväskylä. Congratulations on this excellent achievement, everyone!

13th International Workshop on Greenhouse Gas Measurements from Space was held in Helsinki 6.–8. June 2017. The conference was very successful with close to 170 participants, 3 full days of oral presentations and 76 posters on satellite-based remote sensing of greenhouse gases. We wish to thank all participants for their contributions that resulted in an excellent conference, and all local organisers at the FMI and University of Helsinki for the arrangements!

Dr. Janne Hakkarainen is taking a leave of absence from FMI to work as a visiting researcher in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Helsinki. Janne will work at the Finnish Center of Excellence in Inverse Problems Research from June 1 until the end of 2017. Congratulations on this opportunity, Janne!

Dr. Pekka Verronen visited the Department for Environmental Sciences of the the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich during 16-17 May, 2017. The purpose was to act as a co-examiner of Pavle Arsenovic's doctoral thesis entitled The Influence of Spectral Solar Irradiance and Energetic Particle Precipitation on Climate. The visit was hosted by prof. Thomas Peter. Apéro!

We organised a two-day workshop on remote sensing of the atmosphere jointly with FMI's Atmospheric radiation group and University of Helsinki's Remote sensing of aerosols and clouds group on 11.-12.5.2017. The workshop was attended by over 30 people. The purpose of the workshop was to share knowledge on current research topics and methodologies, and to increase collaboration between the groups. Group leaders prof. Johanna Tamminen, prof. Antti Arola and prof. Gerrit de Leeuw agree that the workshop exceeded expectations and it is planned to be organised regularly in the future.

Dr. Anu-Maija Sundström begins working at the FMI in April 2017. Anu-Maija's research will include OMI data analysis and investigation of the use of satellite data in proxies for e.g. sulphuric acid concentrations. She got her Ph.D. in meteorology at the University of Helsinki in October 2014. After the Ph.D., she has worked at the University of Helsinki in projects concentrated on air quality in China. She also spent 1.5 years as a postdoctoral researcher in ESA's GHG-CCI project at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials and Technology, where she studied the impact of aerosols on CO2 retrievals from GOSAT and SCIAMACHY. Welcome to the group, Anu-Maija!

Dr. Simo Tukiainen begins work in the Atmospheric Composition Research group in April 2017. Simo will be working in the ACTRIS project as a data manager. His new responsibilities include management of the CloudNet data processing chain and development of various web-interfaces. Congratulations on your new position, Simo!

Sanna-Mari Päivärinta has been appointed as an inspector of environmental protection in the city of Porvoo. The position includes e.g. preparation of environmental applications for permits and also responsibility of the IT issues. Sanna started in her new post in the beginning of March. Congratulations, Sanna, and all the best for your new challenges!

Dr. Johanna Tamminen has been granted full research professorship at the FMI. The period of the professorship is five years. Congratulations on this achievement, Johanna!

Graduate students Ella Kivimäki and Otto Lamminpää begin their Ph.D. thesis research at the Atmospheric Remote Sensing group. Ella will study the spatial and temporal variability of satellite-retrieved methane concentrations. She received her M.Sc. in meteorology at the University of Helsinki in December 2016. Otto is going to work on dimension reduction in statistical inverse problems related to satellite and ground-based retrievals of atmospheric trace gas density profiles. He will receive his M.Sc in applied mathematics at the University of Helsinki during spring 2017. Both have been working at the FMI as summer trainees in 2016. Welcome to the group, Ella and Otto!

Dr. Annika Seppälä will begin as a senior lecturer at the Department of Physics, University of Otago, in the beginning of July 2017. University of Otago is located in Dunedin, New Zealand. In addition to teaching, Annika will continue working on her research on energetic particle influences on the atmosphere and linkages to regional climate. Congratulations on this position, Annika, and good luck to the new challenges!

Iolanda's ILMApilot project has been chosen for funding by the Academy of Finland under the Key Project Funding - Forging ahead with research. ILMApilot aims at increasing the societal impact of satellite-based atmospheric observations for air quality monitoring. The implementation include pilot projects in which satellite data are used in new products and services to answer to the users' needs.

We are organising the 13th International Workshop on Greenhouse Gas Measurements from Space (IWGGMS). The workshop will be held on 6-8 June, 2017, in Helsinki. For more details, see the workshop web pages IWGGMS13

Simo Tukiainen successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled On the Retrieval of Atmospheric Profiles. Congratulations, Simo! Download the thesis from here.

Pekka, Monika, Niilo, and Kirsi organized the 6th International HEPPA-SOLARIS Workshop in Helsinki, Finland, on 13-17 June, 2016. The topic is related to the CHAMOS collaboration: Influences of solar radiation and energetic particle precipitation on the atmosphere and climate.

Marko has been appointed as tenure track professor for three years (1.3.2016-28.2.2019). His research focuses on Statistical postprocessing to improve numerial weather forecasts and/or development of extreme weather forecasting. The aim of tenure-track program is to ensure the development of skills Meteorological Institute in strategically important research areas as well as provide an interesting and competitive career path for experienced researchers. Congratulations Marko and good luck!.

Marko visited the Uncertainty Quantification research group in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during 11-24 October 2015. The purpose of the visit was to enhance the scientific collaboration between the MIT UQ group and FMI, especially in the fields of inverse problems, uncertainty quantification, and remote sensing.

Hannakaisa joined the FMI's team. She was working 1.5 years as a postdoc at Colorado State University, in Nasa's OCO-2 satellite project. She did her PhD in meteorology at the University of Helsinki in January 2014. At the FMI, she will continue working with the CO2 satellite data, especially concentrating on quantifying how aerosol and cloud particles affect the space-based CO2 retrievals. She is funded by the Academy of Finland, and her project is titled Clouds, aerosols, and OCO-2: Quantifying the impact of small-particle light scattering on satellite-retrieved carbon dioxide. Welcome!

Antti (Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory) and Pekka are working on the SIC model during 4 May-5 May.

Alexandra Laeng (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) visited FMI on 10-12 March to work on on topics related to Ozone_cci project to make a progress in studies of ozone natural variability.

Mark Clilverd (British Antarctic Survey) visited FMI on 24-27 February to work on long-term proxies for medium energy electron precipitation for the WACCM-D model and atmospheric effects of substorms.

Dan Marsh and Anne Smith from National Center for Atmospheric Research visited our group on 11-13 February to give an overall picture of the CESM model updates and also to work on WACCM-D development.

The first progress meeting of the MesosphEO project was held at FMI on 9-10 February, 2015. Clear plans are now in effect to finish Phase 1 successfully. Well done, all!

Marko has been granted the title of Docent in the field of applied mathematics at the Lappeenranta University of Technology. Congratulations Marko!