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Merete Bilde


Merete Bilde

Professor Department of Chemistry

Keywords

  • Physical chemistry

  • Atmospheric physical chemistry
  • Aerosols
  • Chemistry in climate

Head of Atmospheric Physical Chemistry Group (APC)

Professor Merete Bilde
PhD in Atmospheric Chemistry

Atmospheric aerosols

Atmospheric aerosols are nano- and micro-particles surrounded by air. They are everywhere around us and affect human health, air quality and climate. The goal of our research is to understand their formation mechanisms, growth processes and interactions with water molecules and to utilize this knowledge to aid mitigation efforts and improve air pollution and climate models to the benefit of society.

The APC group provides knowledge on the properties of atmospheric aerosols and a deeper understanding of processes such as cloud droplet and ice crystal formation in the atmosphere.  This is done by combining experimental studies and modelling.

The group operates a new environmental chamber facility that simulates particle formation and growth in different environments. A suite of state-of-the-art instrumentation allows for the determination of particle properties including scanning mobility particles sizers (SMPS) for measurement of particle number and size distributions, cloud condensation nuclei counters (CCNC) for addressing the cloud forming potential of particles, and a high resolution time of flight aerosol particle mass spectrometer (HR-Tof-AMS) for real-time determination of particle chemical composition.  

We have a strong network of international collaborators at top universities and research institutions in Europe and the US. Industry collaboration has included work on the characterization of particles from ship engines.