Offre de stage Univ. Lille : Megafires : growth, persistence and climate impact of fire particles injected into the stratosphere

Abstract Global warming generates an increasing occurrence of megafires on our planet that inject massive amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere. However, the microphysical properties of these particles remain poorly known, whereas they represent essential parameters to understand the impact of megafires on climate. We have recently developed a new method to track the growth and multi-year persistence of volcanic aerosols in the stratosphere (Boichu et al. JGR 2023). It involves a synergistic analysis of satellite observations and ground-based photometric measurements from the international AERONET network (jointly coordinated by NASA and the French national service of observations PHOTONS/AERONET at the University of Lille in the Laboratoire d’Optique Atmosphérique). This approach, based on the new AEROMODES algorithm, provides notably constraints on the size distribution of stratospheric aerosols with a spatial and temporal resolution unequalled so far. The method was validated and has proved its performance and high sensitivity for the two last major eruptions from Hunga Tonga in 2022 (Boichu et al. JGR 2023) and Raikoke in 2019 (Ruyneau de St-George et al., Nature Sci. Rep, under review). We propose to a motivated Master student to apply the same method to study the optical and microphysical properties of stratospheric aerosols from the most important megafires on the planet over the last years, especially those in Australia in 2019/2020 and the Pacific Northwest Event in North America in 2017. If an extreme event takes place during the internship, the student will be naturally involved in the analysis. More broadly, the student could also participate to the automation of the method with the aim of proposing a new open access web interface for tracking the growth of aerosols, that will integrate the « Volcano Space Observatory Portal ». Aerosol at the heaRt of the Earth/Atmosphere system Univ. Lille, LOA, Cité Scientifique, UFR de Physique, Bâtiment P5, Villeneuve d’Ascq This internship is within the framework of the Horizon Europe FAIR EASE project in collaboration with DATA TERRA Research Infrastructure, AERIS/ICARE and FormaTerre National Data and Services Centres. It also contributes to the ACTRIS Research Infrastructure, the AREA Cross Disciplinary Programme of the University of Lille and the CPER ECRIN project. Keywords: Megafire, climate, aerosol optical and microphysical properties, satellite and groundbased remote sensing, AERONET Requirements: Background in physics, environmental sciences, computer science, data science or equivalent. Strong interest in data analysis, atmospheric and climate studies. Experience in programming (Python is preferred).