Hendrik Andersen

Hendrik Andersen is a Scientist and Co-Group Leader at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), holding dual appointments at the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK) and the Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF). His research focuses on aerosol-cloud-fog interactions and their roles in the climate system using satellite remote sensing techniques, with particular expertise in the Namib Desert region and central European fog systems.

Dr. Andersen earned his PhD from Ruhr-University Bochum with a dissertation titled "A Quantitative, Satellite-Based Analysis of Aerosol Effects on Liquid-Water Clouds." He has held visiting scientist positions at the University of Oxford's Department of Physics (Sub-department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics) and ETH Zürich's Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, demonstrating his international research collaborations and standing in the atmospheric science community.

His primary research interests center on patterns and processes related to aerosols and low clouds/fog and their roles in the climate system using satellite remote sensing. His work spans from local air quality research to regional and global scale analyses of fog and low clouds and their responses to a changing environment. Dr. Andersen employs advanced statistical models and machine learning techniques to study interactions between aerosols, liquid-water clouds and their meteorological environment, with particular focus on cloud formation, dissipation mechanisms, and radiative effects.

His recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on aerosol-cloud interactions, particularly in the Namib Desert region, with significant work on fog dynamics, cloud phase determination, and the impacts of pollution on cloud properties. He has increasingly incorporated machine learning techniques into his research, particularly explainable AI methods, to better understand complex atmospheric processes and improve climate model parameterizations.

Dr. Andersen leads or contributes to several major research projects including AEROFOG (Aerosols and fog in southern Africa), CALISMA (Constraining Aerosol-Low cloud InteractionS with multi-target Machine learning), FORCeS (Constrained aerosol forcing for improved climate projections), multiple Namib Fog Life Cycle Analysis projects (NaFoLi[CA]², NaFoLiCA), and ACTRIS-D - the Karlsruhe Low-Cloud Exploratory Platform (KLOCX). These projects involve extensive international collaborations across Europe, Africa, and North America.

As an educator, Dr. Andersen teaches a diverse range of courses including Geoecological climate change impacts (seminar), Data analysis for geoscience remote sensing projects (lecture and exercise), Satellite climatology (exercise), Atmospheric remote sensing infrastructures (lecture series), Atmospheric physics, Measuring and modeling in climate science, and Remote sensing systems. His teaching spans undergraduate and graduate levels, emphasizing practical applications of remote sensing technology in climate research.