To achieve Net Zero, we require a complete understanding of the climate impacts of Near-Term Climate Forcers (NTCFs). Aviation NOx emissions (ANE) represent a major uncertainty in aviation's NTCF climate impacts. Using new in situ constraints of observations of NOx, a series of state-of-the-art coupled chemistry-climate models, state-of-science emission inventories and by developing a range of new possible future emission scenarios we will constrain and reduce this uncertainty in REVEAL-NOx. In doing so we will address Themes 1.2, 2.1 and 2.2 of the Jet Zero call, enabling solutions for a reduction in aviation's non-CO2 climate impacts to be delivered through a better understanding of the need for any trade-offs. It is unlikely that we will get to zero NOx emissions from aviation, so it is paramount we fully constrain ANE radiative impacts in order to successfully deliver Net Zero aviation emissions.

Sea salt aerosol (SSA) may influence regional climate directly through scattering of radiation or indirectly via its role as cloud-forming particles. While it is well known that SSA can be cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) forming cloud droplets, it has been shown only recently that SSA can also be a source of ice nucleating particles (INP) forming ice crystals, depending on its chemical composition and surface shape. Arctic clouds are poorly represented in climate models, which is partly due to a lack of understanding of source and nucleating capability of natural aerosol in the high Arctic. Aerosol models for example do currently not capture aerosol maxima in the Arctic winter/spring observed at high latitudes. Recent field campaigns provide first evidence of a hypothesized source of SSA from salty blowing snow (BSn) above sea ice. During storms salty snow gets lofted into the air and undergoes sublimation to generate SSA. Additional but minor SSA sea ice sources are frost flowers and open leads. The impact on radiation and clouds of SSA from this new source of SSA above sea ice is not known. However, a quantitative understanding of natural aerosol processes and climate interactions is needed to provide a baseline against which to assess anthropogenic pollution reaching the Arctic and evaluate the success of mitigation measures. We therefore propose to determine the SSA source, fate and potential impact on Arctic climate associated with blowing snow above sea ice and other sea ice sources. To do this we seek funding to participate in the year-long Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) to observe aerosol processes in the central Arctic ocean throughout all seasons. Proposed measurements on the sea ice and on-board "FS Polarstern" include particle size and concentration (sub-micron to snow particle size), INP concentrations, and a range of chemical properties using aerosol filters. Sampling of snow on sea ice, brine, frost flowers will constrain the local source of SSA. Tethered balloon launches will yield information on the fate of particles formed near the sea ice surface as they get lofted to heights where clouds may form.

Vortex rings embody various essential characteristics of vortical motion. Their compact nature also makes them ideal as simpler building blocks in the modelling of complex flows. Unfortunately, despite their apparent simplicity, there are still many unanswered questions related to most aspects of the vortex rings themselves, including their formation, propagation and decay, with more challenging complexities in both their dynamics and energetics introduced by effects of compressibility. Additionally, the flows and interactions associated with compressible vortex rings have received very little attention as compared to those associated with incompressible vortex rings. The present proposal is for a systematic experimental study of compressible vortex rings and their interactions with stationary and moving flat surfaces. The proposed work is novel because their detailed study is limited and there are many questions unanswered associated with these flow fields. The proposed work is also timely because compressible vortex rings and their interactions are highly relevant to current non-lethal-weapon technology development, transport, mixing and turbulence research, wind tunnel experiments, high-speed aerodynamic flows around projectiles, missiles and other slender bodies, turbomachinery, aero-acoustics, suppressors and muzzle brakes design, atmospheric research, pulse detonation engines, automobile exhaust flow fields etc. The investigation will be conducted in the University of Manchester shock tube facility using a range of advanced experimental techniques. The work is divided into three tasks. Task 1 will study the fundamental flow physics of the isolated compressible vortex ring. Task 2 will investigate the compressible vortex ring interaction with stationary and moving flat surfaces. Task 3 will examine the compressible vortex ring interaction with reflected shock waves.

Advanced nanotools including atomic force microscopy, optical microscopy and correlative microscopy are enabling techniques for discoveries and knowledge generation in nanoscale science and technology. Many R&D efforts have been directed towards the performance improvement of such kinds of techniques for soft matter. However, the greatest challenge faced by these leading edge techniques is the realization of high spatiotemporal resolution, non-invasive, multi-scale and multi-dimensional imaging and manipulation. We therefore propose NanoRAM, a 10 ESR Marie Sklodowska Curie Action Doctoral Network by close collaboration between academic and industrial partners around the theme of innovative nanotools and their industrial applications. NanoRAM will train a new generation of ESRs in the development and application of newly developed manipulation and characterisation nanotools in soft matter research. ESRs will be cross-pollinated with concepts and skills in instrumentation and soft matter characterisation, in particular in fast nanomechanical spectroscopy, nano-robotics, correlative super-resolution nanoscopy, nano biomechanics and mechanotransduction. These skills are applied to reveal for the first time the fast, high resolution, multi-level and 3D information for single cell biomechanics and nanomedicine. Excellent training in new scientific and complementary skills, combined with international and intersectoral work experience, will instil an innovative, creative and entrepreneurial mind-set in ESRs, maximising economic benefits based on scientific discoveries. These specialised, highly trained ESRs will have greatly enhanced career prospects and qualifications for access to responsibility job positions in the private and public sectors. The ultimate goal of NanoRAM is to consolidate Europe as the world leader in innovative nanotool techniques and their emerging applications in soft matter fields such as biomechanics, mechanobiology, and nanomedicines.

Anthropogenic disturbance and land-use change in the tropics is leading to irrevocable changes in biodiversity and substantial shifts in ecosystem biogeochemistry. Yet, we still have a poor understanding of how human-driven changes in biodiversity feed back to alter biogeochemical processes. This knowledge gap substantially restricts our ability to model and predict the response of tropical ecosystems to current and future environmental change. There are a number of critical challenges to our understanding of how changes in biodiversity may alter ecosystem processes in the tropics; namely: (i) how the high taxonomic diversity of the tropics is linked to ecosystem functioning, (ii) how changes in the interactions among trophic levels and taxonomic groups following disturbance impacts upon functional diversity and biogeochemistry, and (iii) how plot-level measurements can be used to scale to whole landscapes. We have formed a consortium to address these critical challenges to launch a large-scale, replicated, and fully integrated study that brings together a multi-disciplinary team with the skills and expertise to study the necessary taxonomic and trophic groups, different biogeochemical processes, and the complex interactions amongst them. To understand and quantify the effects of land-use change on the activity of focal biodiversity groups and how this impacts biogeochemistry, we will: (i) analyse pre-existing data on distributions of focal biodiversity groups; (ii) sample the landscape-scale treatments at the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) Project site (treatments include forest degradation, fragmentation, oil palm conversion) and key auxiliary sites (Maliau Basin - old growth on infertile soils, Lambir Hills - old growth on fertile soils, Sabah Biodiversity Experiment - rehabilitated forest, INFAPRO-FACE - rehabilitated forest); and (iii) implement new experiments that manipulate key components of biodiversity and pathways of belowground carbon flux. The manipulations will focus on trees and lianas, mycorrhizal fungi, termites and ants, because these organisms are the likely agents of change for biogeochemical cycling in human-modified tropical forests. We will use a combination of cutting-edge techniques to test how these target groups of organisms interact each other to affect biogeochemical cycling. We will additionally collate and analyse archived data on other taxa, including vertebrates of conservation concern. The key unifying concept is the recognition that so-called 'functional traits' play a key role in linking taxonomic diversity to ecosystem function. We will focus on identifying key functional traits associated with plants, and how they vary in abundance along the disturbance gradient at SAFE. In particular, we propose that leaf functional traits (e.g. physical and chemical recalcitrance, nitrogen content, etc.) play a pivotal role in determining key ecosystem processes and also strongly influence atmospheric composition. Critically, cutting-edge airborne remote sensing techniques suggest it is possible to map leaf functional traits, chemistry and physiology at landscape-scales, and so we will use these novel airborne methods to quantify landscape-scale patterns of forest degradation, canopy structure, biogeochemical cycling and tree distributions. Process-based mathematical models will then be linked to the remote sensing imagery and ground-based measurements of functional diversity and biogeochemical cycling to upscale our findings over disturbance gradients.