Ambient air pollution caused by anthropogenic and natural emissions impacts human health and vegetation. A very important pollutant with respect to human health are aerosol particles. Especially particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm, which can be deposited deep into the lungs, is of importance here. To reduce such negative effects, anthropogenic emissions, for example from road transport, must be reduced.

In a changing climate, ambient air pollution can worsen due to several feedback processes, such as changing circulation patterns, changes in precipitation, and the increase of natural emissions due to higher air temperatures. Further, climate change affects human health directly, for example during episodes of very high temperature (heat waves). Together, high temperature and strong ambient air pollution can amplify the effects on human health. Despite this, many aspects of the effects of ambient air pollution on human health under climate change are not well understood. This limits the design of efficient mitigation and adaptation strategies to reduce negative impacts of ambient air pollution in the future.

In the IMPAC²T project, we aim to close this knowledge gap and assess the role of ambient aerosol air pollution in a changing climate and its effects on human health and vegetation. For this, we will combine our expertise in numerical air quality modelling with expertise in epidemiology in an interdisciplinary team. As part of this team the research focus of this PhD project will be the analysis of trends in aerosol concentrations and size distributions as well as atmospheric temperatures under different climate change scenarios. The PhD student will perform chemistry-climate simulations using our state-of-the-art model MECO(n).

You will perform simulations for present day and future conditions with resolutions from the global scale down to a few kilometers. Based on the model results you will analyze how atmospheric metrics relevant for human health change under projected future conditions. Using innovative model-based diagnostics, you will be able to disentangle the role of different driving factors (e.g. emissions, atmospheric dynamics) on aerosol concentrations and size distributions.

Your work will be in close collaboration with experts in the field of epidemiology. You will support their research with your model results and expertise. Further, there will be a close collaboration with local authorities to ensure the practical relevance of your research.