Holger Baars

Holger Baars serves as Team Leader for Lidar Applications at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig, Germany, within the Department of Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Processes. His work focuses on advanced atmospheric observations using lidar technology and contributes significantly to international research infrastructures.

His educational background includes a Diplomarbeit on continuous planetary-boundary-layer depth monitoring with lidar and a dissertation on aerosol profiling in the Amazon Basin. Research interests span atmospheric remote sensing, aerosol characterization, Earth observation missions (particularly EarthCARE and Aeolus), and climate-relevant atmospheric processes. His work integrates lidar observations with satellite data and atmospheric models to advance understanding of aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions.

Baars actively supervises M.Sc. and B.Sc. students, with recent theses focusing on aerosol properties in Cabo Verde, Tajikistan, and Cyprus. He leads multiple international projects including EarthCARE DISC, Aeolus DISC, and EARLINET, and serves as speaker of the European Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) Council. His technical expertise covers Raman-Lidar, Polarization-Lidar, Wind-Lidar, and complementary atmospheric measurement systems.

As a member of the Aeolus Science and Data Quality Group since 2019, he contributes to spaceborne lidar mission validation. His research has produced significant publications on wildfire smoke transport, stratospheric aerosol events, and lidar network development, demonstrating leadership in advancing global atmospheric observation capabilities.