“Taking part in expeditions was an unbelievable experience”
Andrea Baccarini investigated aerosol formation in the Arctic and Antarctic and their role in climate change. © Sharif Mirshak Parafilms / EPFL
Andrea Baccarini, now a scientist at ENAC’s Extreme Environments Research Laboratory, has been awarded the ETH Medal for his thesis investigating aerosol formation in the Arctic and Antarctic and the role aerosols play in climate change.
The journey undertaken by Andrea Baccarini for his PhD has indeed been special. It comprised a research expedition in the Arctic and one in the Antarctic, thousands of hours of field measurements and thousands more hours of lab work, and joint experiments with scientists at CERN and various universities. He has now been recognized for this outstanding effort as a recipient of the ETH Medal for his thesis, which he defended in December 2020. The ETH Medal is a prestigious distinction given out every year to particularly remarkable, innovative thesis projects.
Baccarini spent the four years of his PhD studying new aerosol particle formation in polar regions. These airborne particles play a key role for the climate system. “Aerosols are essential for forming clouds, which can both warm up or cool off the planet,” says Baccarini. “If the aerosols’ properties or concentration change, that can have an impact on the Earth’s temperature.”
Aerosols are produced from a variety of sources, which can be either natural or anthropogenic. Sources of aerosols in polar regions are still poorly understood due to a lack of available data. However, thanks to Baccarini’s field research and lab analyses, the picture has become a little clearer. “For instance, we found that iodine emissions were a primary source of new aerosol formation in the central Arctic Ocean.”
Hard work, commitment and unique opportunities
After obtaining a Master’s degree in experimental physics from the University of Trento (Italy), Baccarini joined the Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry at the Paul Scherrer Institute for a PhD, awarded by ETH Zurich in 2021. Today Baccarini is a postdoc at ENAC’s Extreme Environments Research Laboratory, headed by tenure-track assistant professor Julia Schmale – one of his thesis supervisors. “A PhD is a ton of work, but it also gives you unique opportunities,” says Baccarini. “For me, getting to take part in expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic was an unbelievable experience. I could never thank Prof. Schmale enough, or my supervisors at the Paul Scherrer Institute – Prof. Urs Baltensperger and Josef Dommen – for their support.”
A research balloon for high-altitude measurements
In the year since graduating, Baccarini has taken his research further, yet always towards the same goal: applying methods from experimental physics to solve concrete problems and have a real impact. He’s working with Roman Pohorsky, a PhD student from the same lab, to develop a balloon equipped with measurement instruments that can fly some 800 meters above ground level. “The two research expeditions I took part in during my PhD were on ships, and we took measurements only at the water’s surface,” says Baccarini. “But we know that important processes also take place at higher altitudes. Being able to collect data at these altitudes will give us additional insight and help us better understand aerosol properties and their effects on clouds and the climate.”
Baccarini’s thesis research has been published in NatureCommunications, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheresand Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.