The measurement and model systems of the ATMO Hub at KIT
Ground-based measurements
 |
KITcube |
integrated atmospheric observation system consisting of various meteorological sensors. The stationary KITcube at Campus North of KIT consists of the meteorological 200 m measuring mast (continuous measurements since 1972, turbulence, wind, temperature and humidity sensors), a sun photometer and a C-band polarization Doppler radar. The mobile KITcube combines high-resolution measurements from scanning remote sensing systems (Doppler lidar, cloud and rain radar, humidity and temperature profiler, sun photometer, sodar, scintillometer, and GPS-based integrated water vapor and cloud camera systems) with classical in situ instruments on masts and balloons. The overall system allows convection, cloud and precipitation studies. |
 |
Meteorological measuring stations | various measuring stations in and around Karlsruhe & stations at the Dead Sea |
 |
Aerosol measuring container | The IMK operates two aerosol measurement containers, equipped with numerous instruments to measure aerosol-relevant parameters (e.g. particle size, chemical composition, particle number, ...). |
 |
Within the framework of the measurement networks NDACC, TCCON and COCCON the IMK operates numerous FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectrometers for remote sensing of the chemical composition of the Earth's atmosphere for different spectral ranges. | |
 |
Thermal Infrared Radiometer (TIR) | The IMK operates several measuring stations for the validation of satellite-based land or water surface temperatures. |
Airborne measurements
 |
IAGOS-CARIBIC | Remote sensing of chemical and physical processes in the atmosphere by passenger aircraft |
 |
GLORIA | Airborne FTIR spectrometer; jointly with FZJ; platforms: Geophysica and HALO |
 |
KITprobe | Multi-sensor drop probe system for high and fast flying research aircraft (e.g. HALO). |
 |
PHIPS | Novel probe for stereo imaging of single cloud particles and simultaneous measurement of the polar scattering function of the particle. |
 |
SID-3 | SID-3 (Small Ice Detector Mk 3) from the University of Hertfordshire detects the spatial light scattering pattern of individual aerosol and cloud particles in the angular range from 6 to 25° for particle sizes down to ~ 1 µm. |
Laboratories
 |
AIDA (Aerosol Interaction and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) | Chamber for the study of chemical kinetics, aerosol chemistry and physics, and cloud microphysics |
 |
Biological laboratories, phytochambers and exposure chambers |
Biochemical, biophysical, microbiological and genetic laboratories allow studies on plants and microorganisms from the intact organism to the molecular level. They are complemented by phytochambers and exposure chambers to study the effects of climate, air quality and radiation changes under defined conditions. |
 |
Center for Stable Isotope Analysis | Our laboratory is equipped with four mass spectrometers along with associated analytical peripherals and laser spectrometers for stable isotope analysis of C (carbon), N (nitrogen), O (oxygen) and H (hydrogen) in gaseous, liquid and solid samples. |
.jpeg) |
Scientific Greenhouse | The research facility on the KIT Campus Alpin offers a high-tech platform to better understand the reactions of plants to environmental changes and extreme stress events. In the individual climate chambers, plants can be exposed to different air temperatures, humidity, radiation, and carbon dioxide concentrations. |
Satellite instruments
 |
MIPAS/ENVISAT | Satellite data from the MIPAS instrument on the ENVISAT satellite (2002-2012); chemical composition of the atmosphere. |
 |
IASI | MetOp satellites carry a suite of instruments in space with the goal of monitoring Earth's climate and providing data to improve weather forecasting. IASI measures the vertical structure of atmospheric temperature and humidity in high resolution. IMK generates tropospheric water vapor isotopologue data to study moisture transport in the troposphere. |
Measurement networks
 |
NDACC (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change) |
Ground-based remote sensing measurement of atmospheric composition. The IMK operates several FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometers), which provide information on numerous atmospheric trace substances. These FTIR-sites of the IMK are part of NDACC:
An overview of all publicly available NDACC data can be found here. |
 |
TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observation Network) |
Ground-based remote sensing measurement of atmospheric composition (greenhouse gases). The IMK operates several FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometers) which provide information on greenhouse gases. These FTIR stations of the IMK are part of TCCON:
An overview of all publicly available TCCON data can be found here. |
 |
COCCON (the COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network) |
Ground-based remote sensing of greenhouse gases with portable FTIR spectrometers EM27/SUN (in-house development of KIT & Bruker Optics). Network of more than 40 stations worldwide (e.g. Germany, USA, UK, India, Namibia, Japan, China and Mexico). An overview of COCCON sites, campaigns, and public data is available here. |
 |
TERENO (Terrestrial Environmental Observatories) |
Measurement and analysis of soil, vegetation and atmospheric data to investigate the long-term impact of global climate change, land use changes, socio-economic developments and human interventions on terrestrial ecosystems. The IMK operates the TERENO observatory 'Voralpenraum' with different measurement systems (biogeochemical, hydrological and meteorological). An overview of publicly available data can be found here. |
 |
AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) |
Ground-based remote sensing measurements of different aerosol (-relevant) parameters. The IMK operates these AERONET sites in Germany:
|
Models
 |
ICON / ICON-ART | ICON-ART, where ART stands for Aerosols and Reactive Trace gases, is an extension of ICON(ICOsahedric Nonhydrostatic Model, developed by the German Weather Service (DWD) and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Hamburg (MPI-M), operational weather forecast model of the DWD) to allow the simulation of gases, aerosol particles and the associated feedback processes in the atmosphere. |
 |
EMAC (ECHAM/MESSy) | The ECHAM/MESSy atmospheric chemistry (EMAC) model was developed at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and is based on the ECHAM5 model of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. The MOD group has been using this model since 2004 and continues to develop it for specific problems. Due to its approach and the structure of the interfaces, the chemistry-climate model EMAC can easily be used for a variety of investigations. The main focus of our work is the investigation of the stratospheric ozone budget and the processes controlling stratospheric ozone loss in polar winter/spring (e.g. the so-called denitrification). |
 |
WRF / WRF-Chem | The WRF model(Weather Research and Forecast, developed by NCAR/Penn State University) is used for numerical weather prediction and provides data that feeds into the WaSiM hydrological model for flood forecasting. Other areas of focus include global water budgets (e.g., changes in groundwater). WRF-Chem(Weather Research and Forecast with atmospheric chemistry) contains numerous options for gas phase chemistry and aerosols. |
 |
COSIMA | COSIMA (Computer Simulation of Aerosols) is used to model aerosol processes. A web version is available for own simulations. |
 |
COSMO-CLM / COSMO-ART |
COSMO(Consortium for Small-scale Modeling) is used in many countries (e.g. German Weather Service (DWD)) for operational regional weather forecasting. Long-term simulations can be performed with the extended version COSMO-CLM(Climate Limited-Area Modeling). COSMO-ART(Consortium for Small-scale Modeling -Aerosolsand Reactive Trace gases): KIT-developed extension of the COSMO model to enable the simulation of gases, aerosol particles and the associated feedback processes in the atmosphere. |