Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung
Ahmed

Dr. Ahmed Abdelmonem

⇒ The  European Conference On Non-Linear Optical Spectroscopy (ECONOS 2020) is organized this year by KIT. URL: http://www.econos-conference.org 

⇒ Our Session in the EGU General Assembly: AS3.2 - Atmospheric Surface Science. Links: 2018 , 2019

 

 

Atmospheric aerosol-cloud-climate interactions (e.g. heterogeneous ice nucleation) are fundamental processes in the atmosphere. Despite the importance of these processes in cloud dynamics and precipitation formation, and hence in climate change, little is known about the molecular mechanism and the respective contribution of different structural and chemical surface properties of the atmospheric aerosols and ice nuclei controlling these processes in the atmosphere. To improve our understanding of atmospheric aerosol-water interactions, a molecular level probe has become a demand. Nonlinear optical spectroscopy, mainly second-harmonic and sum-frequency generation (SHG, SFG) are powerful, interface selective and monolayer sensitive techniques capable of exploring surface interactions on the molecular level. Such studies have recently become possible at the KIT after three successful grants (STUB 2012, AB 604/1-1 and AB 604/1-2).

 

Current Research

  • Studying water- and ice-aerosol interactions on the molecular level using nonlinear optical spectroscopy to understand the criteria of formation of different types of clouds, which in turn has its influence on climate change.
  • Investigating the microphysical and optical properties of ice crystals to help understanding the radiation balance in atmosphere. Studies on Pre-defined clouds are being carried at the AIDA cloud simulation chamber and in situ studies are done with research aircrafts and at high altitude environmental research stations. more
  • Development and application of a novel airborne instrument (PHIPS-HALO) for in situ cloud research. more.

 

Research Grants

  • Start-Up-Budget (STUB 2012) in 2012 from the competence field Earth and Environment, KIT.

  • DFG project (DFG, AB 604/1-1) in 2014 from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

  • DFG project (DFG, AB 604/1-2) in 2017 from the German Research Foundation (DFG)

 

Responsibilities

 

Side responsibilities

  • Member of IMKAAF website editors
  • Laser safety officer at the IMKAAF-KIT

 

Relevant publications

  • Abdelmonem, A.; Backus, E. H. G.; Bonn, M. Ice Nucleation at the Water-Sapphire Interface: Transient Sum Frequency Response without Evidence for Transient Ice Phase. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2018, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b07480.
  • Abdelmonem, A.; Wang, Y.; Lützenkirchen, J.; Alves, M. E., Calcium uptake on kaolinite, gibbsite: effects of sulfate, pH, and salt concentration with additional insight from second harmonic generation on temperature dependencies with sapphire basal planes and the potential relevance to ice nucleation. 2018, InTech (submitted, accepted, 2018).
  • Lützenkirchen, J., Scharnweber, T.; Ho, T., Striolo, A., Sulpizi, M., and Abdelmonem, A.* A set-up for simultaneous measurement of second harmonic generation and streaming potential and some test applications. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 2018, 529, 294-305. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2018.06.017.
  • Abdelmonem, A., Backus, E. H. G., Hoffmann, N., Sánchez, M. A., Cyran, J. D., Kiselev, A., and Bonn, M.: Surface-charge-induced orientation of interfacial water suppresses heterogeneous ice nucleation on α-alumina (0001), Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 7827-7837, doi: 10.5194/acp-17-7827-2017, 2017.
  • Abdelmonem, A.: Direct molecular-level characterization of different heterogeneous freezing modes on mica – Part 1, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 10733-10741, doi: 10.5194/acp-17-10733-2017, 2017.
  • Abdelmonem, A., Järvinen, E., Duft, D., Hirst, E., Vogt, S., Leisner, T., and Schnaiter, M.: PHIPS-HALO: The airborne Particle Habit Imaging and Polar Scattering probe. Part I: Design and Operation, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3131-3144, doi: 10.5194/amt-9-3131-2016, 2016.
  • Ehrlich, A., Schäfer, M., Wendisch, M., Herber, A., Lüpkes, C., Neuber, R., Afchine, A., Bundke, U., Krämer, M., Luebke, A., Petzold, A., Abdelmonem, A., Hoose, C., Schnaiter, M., Vochezer, P., Weixler, K., Bozem, H., Hoor, P., Klingebiel, M., Weigel, R., Fugal, J., Borrmann, S., Schneider, J., Schulz, C., Mioche , G., Jourdan, O., Weinzierl, B., Mertes, S., Stratmann, F., de Lozar, A., Mech, M., and Crewell, S.: VERDI, RACEPAC and ACLOUD: Investigating Arctic clouds by airborne observations, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, 2016.
  • Voigt, C., Schumann, U., Minikin, A., Abdelmonem, A., Afchine, A., Borrmann, S., Boettcher, M., Buchholz, B., Bugliaro, L., Costa, A., Curtius, J., Dollner, M., Dörnbrack, A., Dreiling, V., Ebert, V., Ehrlich, A., Fix, A., Forster, L., Frank, F., Fütterer, D., Giez, A., Graf, K., Grooß, J.-U., Groß, S., Heimerl, K., Heinold, B., Hüneke, T., Järvinen, E., Jurkat, T., Kaufmann, S., Kenntner, M., Klingebiel, M., Klimach, T., Kohl, R., Krämer, M., Krisna, T. C., Luebke, A., Mayer, B., Mertes, S., Molleker, S., Petzold, A., Pfeilsticker, K., Port, M., Rapp, M., Reutter, P., Rolf, C., Rose, D., Sauer, D., Schäfler, A., Schlage, R., Schnaiter, M., Schneider, J., Spelten, N., Spichtinger, P., Stock, P., Walser, A., Weigel, R., Weinzierl, B., Wendisch, M., Werner, F., Wernli, H., Wirth, M., Zahn, A., Ziereis, H., and Zöger, M.: ML-CIRRUS - The airborne experiment on natural cirrus and contrail cirrus with the high-altitude long-range research aircraft HALO, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00213.1, 2016.
  • Wendisch, M., Pöschl, U., Andreae, M. O., Machado, L. A. T., Albrecht, R., Schlager, H., Rosenfeld, D., Martin, S. T., Abdelmonem, A., Afchine, A., Araùjo, A., Artaxo, P., Aufmhoff, H., Barbosa, H. M. J., Borrmann, S., Braga, R., Buchholz, B., Cecchini, M. A., Costa, A., Curtius, J., Dollner, M., Dorf, M., Dreiling, V., Ebert, V., Ehrlich, A., Ewald, F., Fisch, G., Fix, A., Frank, F., Fütterer, D., Heckl, C., Heidelberg, F., Hüneke, T., Jäkel, E., Järvinen, E., Jurkat, T., Kanter, S., Kästner, U., Kenntner, M., Kesselmeier, J., Klimach, T., Knecht, M., Kohl, R., Kölling, T., Krämer, M., Krüger, M., Krisna, T. C., Lavric, J. V., Longo, K., Mahnke, C., Manzi, A. O., Mayer, B., Mertes, S., Minikin, A., Molleker, S., Münch, S., Nillius, B., Pfeilsticker, K., Pöhlker, C., Roiger, A., Rose, D., Rosenow, D., Sauer, D., Schnaiter, M., Schneider, J., Schulz, C., de Souza, R. A. F., Spanu, A., Stock, P., Vila, D., Voigt, C., Walser, A., Walter, D., Weigel, R., Weinzierl, B., Werner, F., Yamasoe, M. A., Ziereis, H., Zinner, T., and Zöger, M.: The ACRIDICON-CHUVA campaign: Studying tropical deep convective clouds and precipitation over Amazonia using the new German research aircraft HALO, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, doi: 10.1175/bams-d-14-00255.1, 2016.
  • Schnaiter, M., Järvinen, E., Vochezer, P., Abdelmonem, A., Wagner, R., Jourdan, O., Mioche, G., Shcherbakov, V. N., Schmitt, C. G., Tricoli, U., Ulanowski, Z., and Heymsfield, A. J.: Cloud chamber experiments on the origin of ice crystal complexity in cirrus clouds, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16, 5091-5110, doi: 10.5194/acp-16-5091-2016, 2016.
  • Abdelmonem, A., Lützenkirchen, J., and Leisner, T.: Probing ice-nucleation processes on the molecular level using second harmonic generation spectroscopy, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3519-3526, doi: 10.5194/amt-8-3519-2015, 2015.
  • Zawadowicz, M. A., Abdelmonem, A., Mohr, C., Saathoff, H., Froyd, K. D., Murphy, D. M., Leisner, T., and Cziczo, D. J.: Single-Particle Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry Utilizing a Femtosecond Desorption and Ionization Laser, Analytical Chemistry, doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b03158, 2015.
  • Preocanin, T., Abdelmonem, A., Montavon, G., and Luetzenkirchen, J.: Charging Behavior of Clays and Clay Minerals in Aqueous Electrolyte Solutions — Experimental Methods for Measuring the Charge and Interpreting the Results, in: Clays, Clay Minerals and Ceramic Materials Based on Clay Minerals, edited by: Nascimento, G. M. D., InTech, 51-88, 2016.
  • Lützenkirchen, J., Abdelmonem, A., Weerasooriya, R., Heberling, F., Metz, V., and Marsac, R.: Adsorption of dissolved aluminum on sapphire-c and kaolinite: implications for points of zero charge of clay minerals, Geochem. Trans., 15, 1-14, doi: 10.1186/1467-4866-15-9, 2014.
  • Abdelmonem, A., Schnaiter, M., Amsler, P., Hesse, E., Meyer, J., and Leisner, T.: First correlated measurements of the shape and light scattering properties of cloud particles using the new Particle Habit Imaging and Polar Scattering (PHIPS) probe, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 4, 2125-2142, doi: 10.5194/amt-4-2125-2011, 2011.
  • Lützenkirchen, J., Zimmermann, R., Preočanin, T., Filby, A., Kupcik, T., Küttner, D., Abdelmonem, A., Schild, D., Rabung, T., Plaschke, M., Brandenstein, F., Werner, C., and Geckeis, H.: An attempt to explain bimodal behaviour of the sapphire c-plane electrolyte interface, Adv. Colloid Interface Sci., 157, 61-74, doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2010.03.003, 2010.
  • Polly, R., Schimmelpfennig, B., Flörsheimer, M., Kruse, K., Abdelmonem, A., Klenze, R., Rauhut, G., and Fanghänel, T.: Theoretical investigation of the water/corundum (0001) interface, The Journal of Chemical Physics, 130, 064702, doi: 10.1063/1.3052074, 2009.