Building a sustainable cooperation between Romanian and Norwegian institutions.
Development of a group of sensors called "IceWarn", through an interdisciplinary approach, to contribute to the safe operation of commercial drones, by avoiding freezing conditions;
To advance the understanding of mixed phase clouds through extensive measurements using small aircraft and the HoloScene instrument developed by AUC and UiO;
The commercial use of drones is increasing in construction, agriculture, transportation, communication and surveillance, globally. This rise introduces the necessity to operate drones year-round and in an extended range of weather conditions. Heavy precipitation and strong winds are obvious limiting factors for both the operator and the aircraft / drones itself. However, during the winter season the risk assessment of icing conditions is a complex task, especially when the drone operates beyond the line of sight or autonomously.
The operation of aircrafts in icing conditions introduces the risk of failure and can result in damage or loss of the aircraft, the freight or in the worst case, damage or injury to third parties’ health or property.
The IceSafari project aims to reduce this risk.The complex evaluation of icing requires comprehensive knowledge of the microphysical processes of water and ice particles as found in mixed-phase clouds. Currently, these microphysical processes are not well understood and this lack of understanding continues to be a major source of uncertainty in numerical weather prediction and future climate projections.
The IceSafari project aims to reduce this uncertainty. The necessity to further the understanding of microphysical processes for both the threat of icing conditions on new technologies such as drones, and future state-of-the-art climate projections within IceSafari is a vivid example of research based innovation.
As such IceSafari will address two of the topics under the thematic area B: Environment: “Research on the climate changes and/or extreme natural phenomenon impact on natural and anthropogenic systems” and “Environmental impact and risk assessment of the modern, new and emerging technologies and products”.
The project deliverables will improve both advance climate and atmospheric research and introduce an innovative approach for the safe use of new technologies in the transport sector.
Beyond the scientific and technological goals stated above, IceSafari will also aim to establish, expand and maintain a long-term partnership between Romanian and Norwegian research and development organisations and academic institutions. The partners in this project will work together to develop high quality technology and scientific results at the research frontier. They will also contribute to educational activities resulting in the training of highly skilled personnel, as well as increase the application of research results to current societal needs. Furthermore, the above activities will l enhance the Romanian participation on the European and international science and innovation arena, through knowledge transfer and future joint activities.
Andreea Calcan has extensive experience on atmospheric physics, particularly on cloud microphysics, airborne particle sensors, airborne remote sensing measurements and data analysis. She is the founder and leader of the Environmental Aerodynamics Unit at INCAS. Additionally, she has experience in project management and a good spirit of organization and team work skills.
Sorin Vâjâiac holds a PhD in Atmospheric Physics, awarded from the University of Bucharest. His main research activities include in situ cloud measurements and data processing. He has more than 100 flight hours on-board several research airborne platforms and expertise in working with several scientific instruments for cloud measurements.
Magda Ardelean received her PhD in Chemical Engineering in 2015 at Politehnica University of Timisoara. Her research interests focus on airborne measurement of trace gases, data analysis and air quality. She is experienced in project management and support, as she was involved in several projects at INCAS.
Denisa Moaca is an aerospace engineer and a researcher at the National Institute for Aerospace Research “Elie Carafoli”. She is a PhD student at the Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest, studying cloud microphysics. She is involved in the flight planning and is part of the scientific crew during the flight campaigns.
Michael Gausa has 20 years of experience in atmospheric passive and active remote sensing, including laser and lidar measurements and in sounding rocket technology. He is the director of Research and Development Department at AS. Additionally, he is the PI for all ground-based scientific instruments owned by AS and for many years he has been responsible for the production of rocket and drone payloads and for sensor development projects. As of December 2021, he has over 1300 citations and an h-index of 17, according to Google Scholar.
Trude Storelvmo is a climate scientist, focusing her research on the role of aerosol particles and clouds in Earth’s climate and is particularly interested in how aerosol particles affect climate by acting as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nuclei. She also works on questions related to cloud-climate feedback mechanisms, climate sensitivity and climate engineering involving aerosols and/or clouds. Lectures taught at University of Oslo include Cloud Physics and Climate Change and Impact.
Through her career she has received prestigious awards for her research, like the NSF CAREER award (2014), an ERC Starting Grant (2017) and an AMS Early Career Award (2018). To date she has published more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals (including Science, PNAS and Nature Geoscience), contributed to Chapter 7 (Clouds and aerosols) of the AR5 IPCC report and she is a Coordinating Lead Author for IPCC AR6 Ch. 7 (“The Earth’s energy budget, climate feedbacks, and climate sensitivity”).
Robert O. David is a postdoctoral research fellow with a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from ETH Zurich. His research interests cover mixed phase clouds (MPCs) - in situ measurements, microphysical properties, spatial distribution of cloud particles; ice nucleating particles (INPs) - field and laboratory measurements of INPs, elucidating the mechanisms responsible for ice formation; holography: cloud particle measurements, phase discrimination and ice crystal habit classification using machine learning. Additionally, he has expertise with field and laboratory instruments for measuring cloud properties and aerosols.
Gabriela Iorga is part of the staff of the University of Bucharest since 1998, holding a lecturer position since 2007, when she received her PhD title with a topic focused on direct and indirect effects of the tropospheric aerosol at regional scale. She has extensive teaching experience, as she taught various lectures like Environmental physics, Atmospheric physics and elements of geophysics, Solar radiation and the radiative balance of the Earth, Pollutant dispersion in the atmosphere, apart from general physics lectures. She supervised many projects and theses at undergraduate and post-graduate level, and is an active reviewer in 12 ISI scientific journals.
She has interests and research expertise in: atmospheric physics, air pollution, aerosol characterization, aerosol radiative impacts and climatic role, cloud microphysics, radiative changes determined by anthropogenic factors, scavenging of air pollutants from the atmosphere, and relationships between air pollution and socio-economic development.
Sabina Ștefan has outstanding experience in the field of Atmospheric Physics and Meteorology, including dynamical meteorology and climatology, clouds and precipitation physics, air pollution and environment protection. Her research interests address the areas of Lower and Upper Atmosphere Physics. She has supervised numerous undergraduate, Master and Ph.D. students throughout the years. She has published many papers and five books, two being regarded as important textbooks for Romanian students and researchers. She received a prestigious award from the Romanian Academy.
Valeriu Filip is expert in Thermal Processes, Methods of Mathematical Physics, and has interest in the physics-mathematical modeling of processes in atmospheric boundary layer. He has expertise in analysis of data collected with several scientific instruments for cloud measurements on airborne platforms. He has outstanding skills in studying, understanding and applying physical phenomena in the quantum range, electrostatics and electromagnetic waves propagation. To date she has published more than 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Bianca is PhD student at University of Bucharest. Her research interests are related to the composition of the atmosphere, monitored with different techniques and methods providing in situ and remote measurements. She also studies weather influence on air pollution in the planetary boundary layer.
Adriana is PhD student at University of Bucharest. She has interests in atmospheric physics and air pollution, being focused on physical properties of sampled suspended particles using various devices and in the impact that pollution has on people's life quality.
Robert is PhD student at University of Bucharest with interests in the area of atmospheric physics and air pollution. He studies the air pollutants using remote sensing methods, more specifically using satellite data, and id also interested in the impact that the socio-economic development of a country or region has on air quality.
Liliana Golea is PhD student at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics. Her interests focus on micro- and macrophysics of clouds over Romania, in the larger context of investigations of the planetary boundary layer characteristics using remote sensing equipment (lidar, radar, microwave radiometer).
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| B-dul Iuliu Maniu no. 220, sect 6 |
| Bucharest |
| 061126 |
| Romania |
e-mail: incas@incas.ro
Telephone: +40-21-434.00.83
Fax: +40-21-434.00.82
http://www.incas.ro
