Climate factor clouds — the field campaign EUREC4A intends to answer one of climate science’s great mysteries

From 20 January through 20 February 2020, the EUREC4A (Elucidating the role of clouds-circulation coupling in climate) field study investigated trade wind clouds in the Tropical Atlantic. The international field study aims at advancing understanding of the interplay between clouds, convection and circulation and their role in climate change.

EUREC4A involved more than 40 partner institutions and the deployment of five research aircrafts, four research vessels, ground based remote sensing and satellite remote sensing east and south of the Caribbean island of Barbados. EUREC4A is led by Prof Bjorn Stevens, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) in Hamburg, and Dr Sandrine Bony, Director of Research at the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique in Paris. Their initiative builds on, and extends, a decade of cooperation with Barbadian scientists at the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), under the leadership of its Principal, Dr David Farrell.

Photography: Iulian Fortuna, Editing: Marius Léna. Compania Fortuna - 2020.