Atmospheric Facilities

Atmospheric Sciences offers state-of the-art facilities for student projects, both locally in Manchester and in national and international facilities. In our laboratory complex we have two chambers, both unique in the UK,  one for studying photochemical reactions involving aerosol particles and cloud droplets, and the second containing a pressure-controlled 10 m fall tube cooled to -50°C to study the formation and growth of ice particles in realistic atmospheric conditions.

We have access to excellent field measurement platforms and locations. Our students make extensive use of the NERC research aircraft, international laboratories like the Aida chamber in Germany and the Jungfraujoch observatory in Switzerland, and National Radars in the UK at Capel Dewi and Chilbolton.

The group has state of the art equipment for measuring the size and composition of atmospheric particulates; the microphysics of liquid, ice and mixed phase clouds; reactive trace gases in the atmosphere; greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide; and atmospheric turbulence and fluxes. Manchester also has state of the art equipment for remote sensing by lidar and radar and measurements of radiation in the atmosphere across a wide range of wavelengths from ultraviolet to the infra-red.