Researchers Examine Clouds’ Influence On Climate Change

The MAESTRO project led by Sandrine Bony at the Dynamic Meteorology Laboratory has just received an Advanced grant from the European Research Council. The aim is to better understand the organisation of clouds and convection processes.

Clouds formed by convective processes in the atmosphere affect the exchange of energy between the Earth and space, and thus the climate, by reflecting the sun’s rays and contributing to the greenhouse effect. However, our understanding of the drivers of this convective organisation between 20 and 200 km altitude is still limited and this process is difficult to integrate into climate models. The project led by Sandrine Bony, CNRS research director at the Dynamic Meteorology Laboratory (LMD*), seeks to respond to these challenges. Entitled MAESTRO (Mesoscale organisation of tropical convection), it follows on from the EUREC4A project, which was also led by the researcher and funded by the European Research Council.