Dr. Yun Li

Senior Scientist

Co-Principal Investigator: Water Vapour

Research Topics

• Water vapour and cirrus cloud interaction in the tropopause region • Aviation-induced cloudiness and its climate impact • Chemistry and dynamics of trace gases in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere

Contact

+49 2461/61-6730

+49 2461/61-5346

E-Mail

https://www.fz-juelich.de/en/ice/ice-3

Researcher ID

ORCID

Global Monitoring

Address

Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße
52428 Jülich

Institute of Climate and Energy Systems (ICE)

Troposphere (ICE-3)

Building 05.2 / Room 3049a

About me

I am a chemist by training, with a focus on atmospheric chemistry since my master’s studies, where I investigated the atmospheric oxidation of volatile organic compounds using quantum computational methods. While pursuing my PhD, I specialized in mass spectrometry for atmospheric measurements, gaining hands-on experience with fieldwork both on the ground and in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). This research expanded my understanding of UTLS chemistry and dynamics.

Currently, I am part of the global observation group, where my research centres on the interactions between water vapor and cirrus clouds in the UTLS, with a particular focus on ice-supersaturated regions, predicting, forming, and mitigating aviation-induced cirrus clouds (in the framework of CICONIA and ACACIA). I also help maintain our global network of routine water vapour observations on passenger aircraft.

Vita

Research Experience

Since 2024: Senior Researcher in ICE-3, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany.

2020-2024: Postdoc in ICE-3, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. Focus: Properties and occurrence patterns of contrail cirrus from the view of aircraft-borne observations (EU-Horizon project ACACIA, completed); Evaluation of humidity and contrail forecast in numerical weather prediction models (SESAR Joint Undertaking project CICONIA, 2023-2026).

2015 – 2020: Doctoral Researcher in ICE-4, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. Tasks: Studying chemistry and dynamics in the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone; developing and characterizing of an aircraft-borne mass spectrometer; measuring ultra-trace gases from research aircraft and in a simulation chamber

2012 – 2015: Research Assistant in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology. Focus: Atmospheric oxidation mechanisms of volatile organic compounds, including using quantum computational methods to study reaction pathways and carrying out laboratory experiments to study kinetics.

Education

2008 – 2012: Bachelor of Science in Applied Chemistry, Hengyang Normal University, China

2012 – 2015: Master of Science in South China University of Technology, China

2015 – 2020: PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Physical Chemistry, University of Wuppertal, Germany

Publications

Last Modified: 14.03.2025