Humboldt Fellow Nadja Omanovic Conducts Research on Arctic Clouds
As a result of climate change, the Arctic is warming much faster than the global average. The extent of this Arctic amplification is not fully captured by climate models. This is partly because the models do not accurately represent Arctic stratocumulus clouds. Nadja Omanovic, a postdoctoral fellow in Franziska Glassmeier’s Lise Meitner Research Group Multiscale Cloud Physics, is studying these unique clouds—which are composed of water droplets and ice crystals—as part of a two-year fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
“It’s fascinating. From a microphysical perspective, the clouds should dissipate quickly. Nevertheless, they linger for a surprisingly long time, lying over the Arctic like a warming blanket. I want to find out why that is the case,” Omanovic describes the project’s research question. “I’m very happy that the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is supporting my project. This is an important step for my academic career.”
As part of the Multiscale Cloud Physics Group, the researcher is investigating the hypothesis that the interaction of various processes on different spatial and temporal scales accounts for the remarkable stability of Arctic stratocumulus clouds. These processes include cloud microphysics, turbulence, radiation, and environmental conditions. Experiments with specialized cloud models as well as high-resolution simulations with the ICON climate model are used to disentangle which processes dominate and how they are connected. To this end, Omanovic employs statistical physics methods developed within the Multiscale Cloud Physics Group.
Omanovic drafted the research proposal during a two-week stay at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) in August 2025, supported by group leader Franziska Glassmeier. “It makes a big difference if you can write a proposal like this on site with the people you want to work with later on,” said Omanovic. “I am therefore very grateful for the extensive support provided through the Incubator Program.” The program funds short-term stays at the institute for promising researchers, helping them to prepare research proposals and get to know one another.
Biography
Nadja Omanovic studied environmental sciences at ETH Zurich, where she completed her doctoral thesis on cloud microphysics under the supervision of Ulrike Lohmann. During that time, she spent two months at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the United States. Shortly after the successful completion of her doctorate in 2025, she came to the MPI-M for the first time as part of the Incubator Program. She joined the Multiscale Cloud Physics Group in spring and has started her Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship on 1 October.