TOols and TEchniques for a Changing ATmosphere (TOTECAT) aims at being a sound springboard for future world-class researchers and experts in the field of atmospheric chemistry/physics. The earth atmosphere including the impact of human activities on its chemical composition has long been recognized as a so-called “complex” system. The atmosphere is also clearly a multi-disciplinary field of investigation ranging from chemical reactivity over combustion processes to transport of matter and radiative transfer. TOTECAT will offer to future scientists and engineers the basic knowledge of concepts and offers practical training of various techniques appropriate to tackle scientific or technical problems connected to the chemistry/physics of our changing atmosphere.

The training will include:

• background courses in fundamental spectroscopy, chemical reactivity (heterogeneous and gas, combustion), radiative transfer, etc.
• practice of a broad range of mainly laser based techniques applied to scientific issues relevant to the atmosphere: laboratory kinetic experiments, in situ monitoring or remote sensing of trace species.
• practice of modeling techniques at various scales (from the molecular to the global atmosphere range) of both chemistry (pollution, combustion) and physics (radiation and climate).

TOTECAT relies on the multidisciplinary Doctoral School “Sciences of Matter, Radiation and Environment” (DSMRE), covering a wide area of current scientific issues. The core of the training consortium consists of 24 researchers/teachers from four laboratories located at the host institution USTL (University of Sciences and Technology, Lille), all labeled by CNRS: PC2A (Physico-Chemistry in Combustion and Atmospheric Processes), PhLAM (Physics of Lasers, Atoms and Molecules), LASIR ((Laboratory of Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy) and LOA (Laboratory of Optics of the Atmosphere). Included in our consortium are two regional inter-related groups: ULCO (University of Littoral, Dunkerque) and EMD (Mining School, Douai), both offering proven expertise and top-level equipment related to atmospheric science and not available at USTL. Two laboratories, PC2A and LOA, are part of the NoE ACCENT.

The fellow will have the unique opportunity to be trained on the wide choice of high level techniques available in these institutes, coached and supervised by experienced senior scientists and dedicated technicians.

TOTECAT undertakes to provide 288 person-month for Early Stage Researcher, dispensed to long-term (7 x 36 months = 252 months) and short-term (6 x 6 months, total of 36 months) stays.

The 7 long term research topics are:

• Laboratory studies of heterogeneous tropospheric chemistry
  
• Photochemistry of aldehydes
• Characterisation and transport pathways of pollution aerosols from spaceborne remote sensing and ground-based lidar soundings
• Formation of Soot particles
• Reactivity of the HO2 radical
• In-situ Micro-Raman investigation of aerosol and bulk surfaces
• Tropospheric degradation of Volatile Organic Compounds