The European Research Council has recently highlighted a major research project of The Cyprus Institute led by Professor Jos Lelieveld entitled: “Consistent computation of the chemistry-cloud continuum and climate change in Cyprus (C8)”.

In the ERC's web site, the C8 project is presented under Success Stories, together with other climate change related projects funded by the Council, prior to the latest annual meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC): http://erc.europa.eu/succes-stories/erc-funds-projects-tackle-climate-changes-impacts.

The C8 project studies past, present and future air pollution and climate change in Cyprus and the surrounding region employing novel methodologies.

In particular, the project's research deals with important aspects of atmospheric chemistry and aerosols (anthropogenic and natural) and their complex interactions with the hydrological cycle (clouds and precipitation) in the warm and dry climatic background of the eastern Mediterranean.

These climatic conditions are projected to deteriorate and are also influenced by atmospheric patterns like the North Atlantic atmospheric flow during winter and the South Asian monsoon in the summer.

These issues are studied with a combination of atmospheric and climate computer modelling and analysis of ground-based, satellite and assimilated observations of key chemical and meteorological parameters.

The work is being carried out at The Cyprus Institute by an international team (including Cypriots) of atmospheric and climate scientists.