Skip to main content

Tag: DC2

Kicking Off My Dust-DN Journey: Reflections from the UAV Spring Campaign 2025

Blog post from Kenneth M. Tschorn

My first experiences as a Dust-DN Doctoral Candidate

I joined Dust-DN in April 2025. Before relocating to Cyprus, I worked as a research associate in a long-term air quality monitoring program in Western Norway. This transition has given me a firsthand experience of the stark contrast between one of Europe’s northernmost, colder regions and Cyprus, which has one of the warmest climates in the Mediterranean part of the EU. I was particularly drawn to Dust-DN for its strong networking opportunities—with fellow students, their supervisors, and leading experts in the field of atmospheric dust. I see this as a unique chance to expand my scientific network and gain valuable cultural experiences. My doctoral project (DC2) is embedded within Work Package 2 (WP2) of the DUST-DN, which focuses on the fundamental properties of dust. Specifically, DC2 aims to explore and validate new measurement techniques that can enhance our understanding of dust particle morphology and orientation.

This includes collecting dust particles during major outbreaks over Cyprus using devices called impactors. These are small tools with sticky surfaces that catch dust particles as they pass by, allowing scientists to examine individual particles in detail. For our work, we used specially modified Giant Particle Collectors (GPAC) mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) called Skywalker. These GPACs included Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) grids, which are fine mesh structures that let us study the particles in three dimensions using an electron microscope.

One additional aspect of my project is to investigate whether dust particles in the atmosphere align in a certain direction – a phenomenon that has been reported in some studies. To test this hypothesis, we used a second Skywalker UAV equipped with two differently pointing Compact Optical Backscatter AerosoL Detectors (COBALD). One of these instruments was mounted vertically and the other horizontally. These instruments emit light in two different wavelengths, and a detector measures the amount of light being scattered back to the instruments. Mounting them at different angles helps us to look for signs of particle orientation/alignment. This unique, novel approach may shed new light on how atmospheric dust particles behave in the air and how they affect the Earth’s climate system.

Starting my PhD project right as the UAV Spring Campaign 2025 kicked off was both exciting and demanding. I had to rapidly become familiar with new instruments and techniques—such as the principles of the COBALD system and aerosol sampling—while actively participating in campaign operations. In this post, I share my first hands-on experiences and how they relate to the objectives of my doctoral project.

Campaign Objectives

The UAV Spring Campaign 2025 took place at the Cyprus Institute (CYI) from April 3rd to May 31st, a period selected due to favorable atmospheric conditions for dust transport from North Africa to Cyprus. Throughout this period, the remote sensing group produced daily observational and model-based dust forecasts to assess whether atmospheric conditions were suitable for UAV flights from CYI’s airfield at Orounda.

In collaboration with the Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory (USRL) of CYI, the team successfully conducted UAV operations on eight different days, catching various different dust events. The primary goal was to evaluate the performance of newly developed instruments designed to characterize the microphysical properties of dust particles during significant dust events. These novel tools added new capabilities to CYI’s well-established instrumentations that measure dust particle size, like the POPS and UCASS instruments (more on those below).

Each day began with a crucial question: Are we going to fly today?

UAV Platforms and Scientific Instrumentation

Quadrocopter / POPS

A quadrocopter platform was equipped with the Printed Optical Particle Spectrometer (POPS), which measures aerosol particle sizes in the range of 0.115 to 3.37 µm (optical equivalent diameter). Accordingly, POPS is an instrument designed to detect rather small particles. On most flight days, the POPS was deployed first to obtain vertical profiles of dust concentration. These data helped identify optimal target altitudes for particle sampling by subsequent Skywalker flights.

Figure 1: POPS mounted on quadrocopter (note: drying inlet is not attached here)
Figure 2: POPS in detail (note: drying-inlet is not attached here)

Skywalker / UCASS and Impactors

The Skywalker fixed-wing UAV carried two key instruments for studying larger dust particles. Under each wing, we mounted the Universal Cloud and Aerosol Sounding System (UCASS), measuring particles ranging from 0.45 to 56.06 µm (optical equivalent diameter) using optical detection.

Figure 3: Skywalker UAV carrying both UCASS and an adjustable mount for the collection of giant dust particles.

Alongside the UCASS, we also attached two custom-built particle impactors, so called Giant Particle Collectors (GPAC). These were also placed beneath each wing and used for collecting dust particles at target altitudes. For this campaign, the GPACs were specially modified to include TEM grids allowing for advanced, three-dimensional morphological analysis in the lab.

Figure 4: UCASS (left) and adjustable mount for giant dust particle collection with our modified TEM-grid impactors (see arrow).
Figure 5: Example of a TEM-grid being used during this campaign.

COBALD

A third UAV carried two Compact Optical Backscatter Aerosol Detectors (COBALD), oriented differently to investigate the potential for detecting particle alignment. One COBALD instrument was mounted vertically and the other horizontally (see picture below). Each operates at two wavelengths: blue (λ = 455 nm) and near-infrared (λ = 940 nm). Due to the sensitivity of the sensors, meaningful data could only be collected during nighttime conditions to avoid oversaturation from sunlight.

Figure 6: COBALD backscatter sonde with horizontal and vertical field of view mounted on a third UAV.
Figure 7: COBALD backscatter sondes during ground calibration (high-dynamic-range picture). The beam of the blue wavelength can be identified, but the red channel remains unseen, as it is not within the visible light spectrum. Picture: Fotis Manelidis.
Figure 8: View from the control monitor during one of our UAV flights.
Figure 9: Lidar signal indicating very strong dust presence on 17th May 2025. The volume depolarization ratio (bottom plot) clearly indicates the arrival of non-spherical dust particles starting to descent gradually from around noon until it has reached the surface air level in the evening.

Relevance to my Doctoral Project DC2

This campaign was a perfect starting point for my doctoral project. The use of TEM grid-equipped GPACs matches with my research goal of investigating advanced dust particle morphology. Furthermore, the COBALD deployment supports the evaluation of dust particle orientation—a key hypothesis in DC2. These innovative measurement strategies may lead to valuable insights into dust microphysics and contribute to broader atmospheric science objectives.

Participating in this campaign was an invaluable experience that provided hands-on exposure to field operations, instrumentation, and scientific coordination. It also set a solid foundation for the research tasks ahead in my doctoral journey.

Planning is already underway for future campaigns. And when the time comes, I expect we’ll find ourselves once again asking that same familiar question:

Are we going to fly today?

Dust particle shape, aspect ratio and orientation: new information from UAV campaigns

Dust-DN doctoral network – DC2

The Cyprus Institute (CyI) and the Technical University Darmstadt (TUDa)

Supervisors: Franco Marenco and Konrad Kandler

The Dust-DN doctoral network

Atmospheric dust or mineral dust (or simply “dust”) is a major atmospheric aerosol, and it gives us one of the most visible and detectable aspects of transboundary transport of atmospheric constituents, impacting visibility, radiation and climate. What is less evident are its quantitative impacts on health, transportation and energy production. Atmospheric dust is not fully understood at the fundamental level (microphysical properties, dust emissions, source regions) and hence atmospheric models fail to fully reproduce its impacts. Moreover, dust observations using ground-based instrumentation, remote sensing and aircraft are abundant, but not evenly distributed; in particular they are missing near the major dust sources. Moreover, the techniques are still under development, with each giving a different picture of a phenomenon with multiple facets. For example, it is now known that super-coarse and giant dust particles have gone undetected for a long time due to limitations in the measurement and modelling tools that have been in use for decades, and this misdetection alters the understanding and the prediction of a number of processes. Finally, dust affects the environment, society, and several economic sectors, with impacts on the transportation and energy sectors for example, the nature and cost of which is not fully understood and quantified. Several methodologies exist to study mineral dust, each giving its own differing picture of a complex phenomenon: numerical modelling, remote sensing, in-situ observations, laboratory research.

We establish the Dust Doctoral Network (Dust-DN), in order to address gaps in the understanding of dust and its impacts by linking the different disciplines and methods. The aim is to train a team of early career scientists into overcoming compartmentalism in this field of science, and into developing a multi-disciplinary approach to mineral dust. Dust-DN will set up a network of academic and non-academic partners working on different aspects of dust research, and will coordinate a program of doctoral projects that will enhance knowledge across a broad range of fundamental, but linked, components of the atmospheric dust life cycle and its impacts. The projects will span across the disciplines of atmospheric sciences (dust processes, modelling, and remote sensing), geology (dust emissions and source regions), as well as the impacts on society and economic sectors. The knowledge will be shared among participating institutions and the wider public and scientific community. Common activities will be held, so as to enhance the network among the partner institutions and among the doctoral researchers, delivering an ambitious advanced training program for capacity building.

The Cyprus Institute and the Technical University Darmstadt

The Cyprus Institute (CyI) is a non-profit research and educational institution with a strong scientific and technological orientation, emphasizing international collaborations, cross-disciplinary research, innovation, and post-graduate education. CyI, through its established research centres, addresses challenging issues that are important at both the regional and international levels. Many of its research activities are being carried out in partnership with leading institutions in respective thematic areas. The Cyprus Institute actuates its educational mission through its Graduate School. It is a fully accredited, degree-granting institution of higher education offering exclusively postgraduate programs. It maintains a small number of students that are fully integrated into the research activities of the institute. This provides the students with the opportunity to acquire hands-on training in the use of the latest methods and techniques, have access to state-of-the-art infrastructure, and conduct research with internationally recognized research teams.

TU Darmstadt with enrolment of about 24,400 students, among them 19% foreign students, is one of Germany’s leading universities of technology, belonging to TU9 – the alliance of nine leading German universities of technology – in Germany and CLUSTER, a consortium of 12 elite European Universities in Science and Engineering. The EU Commission awarded TU Darmstadt, together with six European technical universities, as one of the first consortia, the title of “European University”. Ingenium, an umbrella organisation for promoting early career researchers, offers training in transferable skills. The Welcome Centre assists all international scientists in non-professional areas. TU Darmstadt bundles its excellent and globally visible research in three research fields. Research in these fields focuses on topics that are of high and lasting relevance for the economy and society.

The selected candidate will be working at the Climate and Atmosphere Research Centre (CARE-C) of the Cyprus Institute and at the Institute of Applied Geosciences of the Technical University Darmstadt, within a highly international environment. CARE-C is a regional Centre of Excellence focused on addressing urgent climate change and air pollution challenges and impacts. The establishment of CARE-C was sponsored through funding received from the European Union’s research and innovation program (grant no. 856612) and the Cyprus Government, within the framework of Teaming project EMME-CARE. It comprises four departments: Environmental Observations, Environmental Predictions, Impact and policy, and Environmental Technologies. Moreover, it comprises a number of facilities for atmospheric research such as the Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory and the Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory. The Institute of Applied Geosciences of TUDa covers a broad range of Earth sciences from geology and soil science over hydrology to atmospheric sciences.

The doctoral project

Doctoral Candidate 2 (DC2) – “Dust particle shape, aspect ratio and orientation: new information from UAV campaigns”

Enrolled in the Cyprus Institute’s PhD programme on “Energy, Environment and Atmospheric Sciences” and the Technical University Darmstadt’s PhD programme (double PhD degree).

This project has the objective of developing a methodology to retrieve combined shape/size/orientation from field observations, collect new UAV-based datasets on dust particle shape, aspect ratio, internal structure and orientation, and fill the gaps in our understanding and global observational capability, with the formulation of recommendations. The candidate will review the uncertainties in understanding dust particle shape, aspect ratio and orientation in the free troposphere, and their impact on dust transport and radiative effects; review and advance learnings from the new airborne observations with UAVs, with the dual-FOV COBALD backscatter sonde and the collection of airborne dust samples for Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM); enhance the existing datasets through a dedicated campaign using CyI scientific infrastructure (USRL); analyse the collected samples with state-of-the art electron microscopy; develop the optimal methods to exploit the collected datasets to derive information on dust particle shape, aspect ratio and orientation; and report on findings and on their impact on dust predictions and remote sensing. This project leads to a double degree delivered by CyI and the Technical University of Darmstadt (TUDa) and the doctoral candidate will be based at both institutions (first year at CyI, Nicosia, Cyprus; second year at TUDa, Darmstadt, Germany; and third year at CyI again). The project will be supervised by Prof. Franco Marenco (CyI) and Prof. Konrad Kandler (TUDa). Frank G. Wienhold (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich) will also contribute to the supervision.

Details

The recruited PhD candidate will be enrolled in CyI’s PhD programme on “Energy, Environment and Atmospheric Sciences” and TUDa’s PhD programme. It is included in the “Dust Doctoral Network”, which involves highly prestigious research groups on this scientific topic, and which will ensure that the cohort of doctoral candidates is integrated in a dynamic and enthusiastic scientific environment. The doctoral candidate will learn about the consortium partners’ unique facilities and research topics/methods, and will exploit these opportunities for their research. All Dust-DN doctoral candidates will work side-by-side with lead scientists at world-leading institutes, and they will:

  • Take responsibility for the scientific project that they are involved in, and the instruments and/or software required.
  • Collect scientific knowledge through experiments and/or numerical modelling, and data analysis.
  • Develop tailor-made data processing methods.
  • Advance the fields of research in atmospheric dust and/or the related measurement and/or modelling techniques.
  • Participate in the Dust Doctoral Network training and networking activities.
  • Publish research results in scientific peer reviewed journals, and present at conferences and workshops.

Qualification Requirements

  • The candidates are required to possess an excellent master’s degree (or equivalent) in a physical, mathematical, chemical or geo science subject (or other natural science discipline) and to not have any kind of PhD degree.
  • Fluency in written and oral English is compulsory (as per the admission requirements of the CyI Graduate School, a certificate will be required in the second step of the application procedure).
  • Motivation for research on atmospheric dust.
  • Experience or aptitude to develop scientific software (computer-based programming)
  • Demonstrated ability in being a strong team player.
  • Strong international mobility for the purpose of research, training, and dissemination is mandatory.

Preferred Qualifications

Additional appreciated skills and competencies are:

  • Experience in applying broad scientific knowledge to a range of specific problems or scenarios.
  • Previous research experience and/or previous interest in the atmospheric sciences, meteorology or closely related discipline will be appreciated.
  • Experience with written or oral scientific communications.
  • Publication record.
  • Driving licence.

Eligibility Requirements

  • Qualifications:  The candidate must hold a title satisfying the admission requirements for a doctoral candidate at the institution where they will be enrolled (see qualification requirements). A doctoral degree in any field is not compatible with these positions.
  • Mobility: Transnational mobility is an essential requirement of MSCA Doctoral Networks. At the time of recruitment, the candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Cyprus for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the recruitment date. Applicants must be aware that seconding periods are planned for this position as described above. International applicants are welcomed. 

Rights and Responsibilities of Researchers Participating in Marie Skłodwska-Curie Actions
The European Charter for Researchers is a set of general principles and requirements which specify the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of both researchers and the employers and/or funders of researchers. The aim of the Charter is to ensure that the nature of the relationship between researchers and employers or funders is conducive to successful performance in generating, transferring, sharing and disseminating knowledge and technological development and to the career development of the researchers.

It is obligatory for applicants to read and understand the detailed information regarding the rights and responsibilities of researchers engaged in an MSCA Doctoral Network.

The European Charter for researchers can be accessed at: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/european-charter

Employment Contract and Financial Aid

The selected candidate will be appointed for 36 months, full-time under separate employment contracts in Cyprus and Germany. In Cyprus (first and third year) the competitive financial aid package comprises a gross annual salary of €33,640 (living allowance and mobility allowance). In Germany (second year), employment will comprise a gross annual salary of €54,294. In addition, there can be further allowances depending on previous experience, family status and other needs, as per MSCA relevant provisions and/or provisions of the hiring institution.

It is understood that failure to successfully continue the PhD program will result in immediate cancellation of the employment contract and the financial support provided.

Start date

The position starts on 3 February 2025 and is a full-time position (40 hours/week), funded for a period of 36 months.

Application and selection

Application advisory: A pre-screening of the candidates will be made by the Dust-DN consortium as a first step prior to the formal recruitment process. Candidates should submit a CV and motivation letter on the Dust-DN website, together with their university transcripts and the name and contact information of two referees, and indicating up to 3 preferred doctoral projects (in order of preference) amongst the ones advertised within the whole Dust-DN (which includes the one in the present advert). It is very important that the motivation letter should recall each of the qualification requirements and preferred qualifications indicated in this advert, clearly justifying how the candidate is able to meet each of them, and providing evidence. After short-listing, the most suitable candidates will be called for an interview.

Formal recruitment phase: The most highly-ranked applicants interviewed during the application advisory phase will be re-directed for the formal application.

With the submission of the documents, applicants agree that the documents will be shared among all supervisors of the Dust-DN consortium and members of the respective shortlisting and interviewing panels.

Dust-DN respects and supports the compatibility of professional and private life and promotes development opportunities for its cohort of doctoral researchers. We promote equality of opportunity, value diversity and nurture a working and learning environment.

Deadlines:

Applications for the advisory phase must be submitted by 31 August 2024.

Deadline extended to 30 September 2024

Formal applications must be submitted by 30 November 2024.

We reserve the possibility to extend the deadline(s).

Contact Information
For further information, please contact Professor Franco Marenco (e-mail: f.marenco@cyi.ac.cy).

Apply Now