Quick Facts

  • Name: Jens Lautenbach
  • Comes from: Germany
  • Lives in: Arecibo, Puerto Rico
  • Leisure time activities: Play with our dog at the beach
  • Likes: Sailing and traveling
  • Currently reading: My wife’s doctoral dissertation

 In a nutshell

  • My research matters because… it makes an impact on our life by studying different processes in the atmosphere and giving other researchers the base for modeling and predicting our atmosphere.
  • One of the inspirations for my research has been… our atmosphere is so much more than just air, developing novel instruments, and studying with them the atmosphere up to where space begins is fascinating.
  • The best thing about my job is… I can create science and experience every step along the way.
  • My career highlight so far has been… being part of the supervising team that performed a 3-years long field campaign in the Arctic (78° N) to measure various parameters in the higher atmosphere. This unique set of parameters contributed significantly to the evaluation of satellite observations and the comparison of these parameters led to new and unexpected scientific results.
  • My advice to aspiring researchers is… first of all, “you can do it”. That may sound lame but if you have the right motivation, willingness, and persistence reaching a goal is way easier. Along the way, you will have setbacks, but they are making you stronger because you can learn from them how to make things better. This is especially the case in developing things or programming and so many other areas. So, don’t get upset, look at what you can do better, and soon after you are one step closer to your goal. Second, find a mentor who is truly a role model and you can look up too.

Related News Article: Summer Student Assists in Development of Newest AO Facility.

Jens Lautenbach, Ph.D.
Observatory Scientist
Arecibo Observatory – University of Central Florida
Space and Atmospheric Sciences

Interview:

At the end of my engineering physics degree program, I performed my master’s thesis at the Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), University of Rostock, Germany. This work experience and the work environment impacted me so much that I decided to start a Ph.D. program in Atmospheric Sciences with them to become a scientist.

There are various projects I am working on currently. One of them is the Culebra Aerosol Research Lidar (CARLA) project funded by the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust. The other projects are related to my work at the Arecibo Observatory (AO) where I am leading the potassium lidar research program and a supplemental award from NSF, I am also chair of the AO Colloquium Series.

Atmospheric lidar observations require a lot of workforce since there are almost no autonomous lidar systems for the higher atmosphere that is experimentally difficult to excess. Furthermore, these lidar systems are large, very expensive, and not made from of the shelve components. IAP has developed a prototype lidar system with a size of 3.3ft x 3.3ft x 3.3ft that is anticipated to observe the lower and higher atmosphere autonomously. Once this system is transferred to the industry and available as of the shelf components, it will significantly change the way atmospheric lidars are used.

My work at the Arecibo Observatory is very diverse, from development work in the laboratory to conduction observation and analyzing my own observational data. By that, I can create science and experience every step along the way.

The CARLA project has the goals to study aerosols and the Saharan Air Layer in a way it has not been done in Puerto Rico. Precise and altitude resolved data of the Saharan Air Layer that impacts cloud and hurricane formation, weather, and the health of our population, among others will be made available. Another goal is to increase opportunities for the educational system by seeking outreach activities for the local K-12 school as well as for university students to perform hands-on research experience. The first student project was completed in summer 2020 (see attached AO – Newsletter article).