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In the framework of the EU-FP7 BACCHUS (impact of Biogenic versus Anthropogenic emissions on Clouds and Climate: towards a Holistic UnderStanding) project, an intensive field campaign was performed in Cyprus (March 2015). Remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS), ground-based instruments, and remote-sensing observations were operating in parallel to provide an integrated characterization of aerosol–cloud interactions. Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) were equipped with a five-hole probe, pyranometers, pressure, temperature and humidity sensors, and measured vertical wind at cloud base and cloud optical properties of a stratocumulus layer. Ground-based measurements of dry aerosol size distributions and cloud condensation nuclei spectra, and RPA observations of updraft and meteorological state parameters are used here to initialize an aerosol–cloud parcel model (ACPM) and compare the in situ observations of cloud optical properties measured by the RPA to those simulated in the ACPM. Two different cases are studied with the ACPM, including an adiabatic case and an entrainment case, in which the in-cloud temperature profile from RPA is taken into account. Adiabatic ACPM simulation yields cloud droplet number concentrations at cloud base (approximately 400 cm−3) that are similar to those derived from a Hoppel minimum analysis. Cloud optical properties have been inferred using the transmitted fraction of shortwave radiation profile measured by downwelling and upwelling pyranometers mounted on a RPA, and the observed transmitted fraction of solar radiation is then compared to simulations from the ACPM. ACPM simulations and RPA observations shows better agreement when associated with entrainment compared to that of an adiabatic case. The mean difference between observed and adiabatic profiles of transmitted fraction of solar radiation is 0.12, while this difference is only 0.03 between observed and entrainment profiles. A sensitivity calculation is then conducted to quantify the relative impacts of 2-fold changes in aerosol concentration, and updraft to highlight the importance of accounting for the impact of entrainment in deriving cloud optical properties, as well as the ability of RPAs to leverage ground-based observations for studying aerosol–cloud interactions.

This paper creatively approaches the marine ecological disaster. A hypothetical dystopic scenario becomes the starting point for an artistic critique on the ongoing ecological catastrophe of the marine environment. Could the colonization of the sea by artificial electromechanical “organisms” constitute a solution to this ecological crisis, so that humans may continue contaminating the marine life undisturbed and without fear of ending up with an uninhabited and dead sea? This thesis revolves around this absurd question and articulates ecological concerns about the dystopic possibility of an irreversibly polluted marine world. This question is approached in purely artistic terms, through the preliminary study, design, and partial implementation of a series of autonomous electromechanical organisms that could colonize an ecologically damaged marine environment, as well as by means of an attempt to compose a submarine art installation where they could “live” and interact freely with one another as well as with other materials of natural or artificial origin. At a purely technical level, this paper discusses particular solutions to technical affairs, describes three electromechanical organisms and their operating principles, and presents draft three-dimensional representations of a possible submarine installation within an aquarium. Through the completion of the work, it was found that, employing various technologies, such ecological concerns can be indeed expressed by artistic means. Η παρούσα εργασία προσεγγίζει δημιουργικά την θαλάσσια οικολογική καταστροφή. Ένα υποθετικό δυστοπικό σενάριο γίνεται το εφαλτήριο μιας βασισμένης σε καλλιτεχνική έρευνα κριτικής για την οικολογική καταστροφή του θαλάσσιου περιβάλλοντος. Θα μπορούσε να επιλύσει την παρούσα οικολογική κρίση ο αποικισμός της θάλασσας από τεχνητούς ηλεκτρομηχανικούς οργανισμούς, ούτως ώστε να μπορεί ο άνθρωπος να συνεχίζει να μολύνει ανενόχλητα την θαλάσσια ζωή δίχως τον φόβο να μείνει η θάλασσα ακατοίκητη και νεκρή; Η πτυχιακή περιστρέφεται γύρω από αυτό το παράλογο ερώτημα και εκφράζει οικολογικές ανησυχίες αναφορικά με την δυστοπική πιθανότητα ενός μολυσμένου θαλάσσιου κόσμου. Το ερώτημα προσεγγίζεται σε καθαρά καλλιτεχνικούς όρους, μέσω προκαταρκτικής μελέτης, σχεδιασμού, και εν μέρη υλοποίησης σειράς αυτόνομων ηλεκτρομηχανικών θαλάσσιων «οργανισμών», που θα μπορούσαν να αποικίσουν ένα οικολογικά κατεστραμμένο θαλάσσιο περιβάλλον, καθώς και μέσω απόπειρας σύνθεσης υποβρύχιας καλλιτεχνικής εγκατάστασης όπου αυτοί οι οργανισμοί θα μπορούσαν να κατοικήσουν να διαδρούν ελεύθερα ο ένας με τον άλλον αλλά και με λοιπά ανόργανα στοιχεία. Σε καθαρά τεχνικό επίπεδο, η παρούσα εργασία συζητά επί μέρους λύσεις σε τεχνικά ζητήματα, περιγράφει τρεις ηλεκτρομηχανικούς «οργανισμούς» και τις αρχές λειτουργίας αυτών, και παρουσιάζει προσχέδια και τρισδιάστατες αναπαραστάσεις μιας πιθανής υποβρύχιας εγκατάστασης εντός ενυδρείου. Μέσα από την ολοκλήρωση της εργασίας διαπιστώθηκε πως μέσω διαφόρων τεχνολογιών μπορούν να εκφραστούν οι οικολογικές ανησυχίες της παρούσας πτυχιακής σε καλλιτεχνικό επίπεδο. Completed