Ms Aránzazu Lana
Institut de Ciencies del Mar, CSIC, Barcelona, SPAIN
Topic: Developing MATLAB programmes for the analysis of a DMS climatology (Report)
Host: Corinne LeQuere, University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK)
Date of STSM: 02/05/2007 to 12/05/2007
STSM code: 1500
Topic: An updated methodology of surface dimethyl sulphide concentrations (Report)
Host: Peter Liss and Thomas Bell, University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK)
Date of STSM: 03/05/2008 to 18/07/2008
STSM code: 3667
From an academic background in atmospheric physics, Aránzazu Lana has recently joined a research group in the Department of Biological Marine Science in the Institut de Ciencies del Mar in Barcelona. As part of this group she investigates the dynamics of dimethylsulfide (DMS) in the ocean and atmosphere, and its role as a precursor of clouds. The aim of this research is to analyze those atmospheric variables that may be affected by DMS emissions, employing the hypothesis that an increase in DMS concentration has consequences for cloud formation and microphysics. The research entails making global monthly data fields of different satellite-derived variables and calculating their temporal correlation with a DMS climatology. Studying the global distributions of crossed correlations, she analyses those regions where the atmospheric variables seem to be more sensitive to the DMS variations. Then, a detailed analysis is conducted using satellite-derived data and real DMS data obtained from the Global Surface Seawater DMS database. The overriding aim of this research is to examine the CLAW hypothesis and to see whether DMS emissions (which are dependent on marine biota) influence climate warming.