In a significant step forward for climate science, German researchers are embarking on a multi-year project to revolutionize how we understand and model clouds’ impact on Earth’s climate. The initiative aims to move beyond traditional one-dimensional cloud modeling to create comprehensive three-dimensional representations, potentially resolving long-standing challenges in climate prediction.
The project, launched at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig, brings together approximately 25 researchers from leading German institutions. Their mission: to decode the complex relationship between cloud structures and radiation patterns that have puzzled scientists since the dawn of satellite meteorology.
“Clouds cover an average of two thirds of our planet’s surface and are therefore the largest filter in our atmosphere,” notes the research brief, highlighting both their role in reflecting solar radiation and emitting thermal radiation back to Earth. This dual nature of clouds – their ability to either cool or warm the planet depending on their structure, height, and time of day – makes them crucial players in climate dynamics.
The timing of this initiative, known as C3SAR (Cloud 3D Structure And Radiation), coincides with major advances in satellite technology. The latest generation of Meteosat weather satellites and the new ESA climate satellite EarthCARE, both operational since 2024, offer unprecedented spatial resolution in cloud observation from space.
Current climate models and satellite observations treat clouds as homogeneous objects – a simplification that scientists have long known to be problematic. This oversimplification has persisted due to technical limitations and the sheer complexity of cloud behavior. The new research group aims to address this gap by developing more sophisticated approaches to capture clouds’ natural variability.
A centerpiece of the project will be a large-scale field campaign planned for summer 2026 at the Richard Aßmann Observatory east of Berlin. The campaign will deploy an extensive array of instruments, including a novel small-scale pyranometer network (PyrNet) from TROPOS, which previously gathered data in the United States in 2023. These devices will record solar irradiance at one-second intervals, providing unprecedented detail about how clouds affect solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface.
The research group represents a collaboration between the University of Cologne, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leibniz Universität Hannover, the German Weather Service, and TROPOS. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the project could extend up to eight years, allowing for comprehensive long-term studies.
On the ground, the research will benefit from the EU research infrastructure ACTRIS, which maintains atmospheric supersites across Germany and Europe. These facilities already provide high-resolution data on cloud formations and radiation patterns, offering a robust foundation for the new 3D modeling efforts.
The implications of this research extend beyond pure scientific interest. As global climate models struggle to accurately predict future climate patterns, better understanding of cloud behavior could significantly improve forecast accuracy. The project specifically aims to correct errors in climate modeling and cloud remote sensing that stem from oversimplified cloud geometry.
The DFG is supporting this initiative through research group FOR 5626 (project number 513446258), demonstrating Germany’s commitment to advancing climate science through innovative approaches to long-standing challenges.
As satellite technology continues to evolve and computing power increases, this project positions German research institutions at the forefront of efforts to unravel one of climate science’s most persistent mysteries: how clouds shape our planet’s climate future.