NSF project on cirrus clouds and impacts from aerosols
Using multiple aircraft campaigns to constrain the simulations of cirrus clouds in global climate models
Cirrus clouds are very unique, because it is one of the very few types of clouds that have a net warming effect on Earth's surface. However, for individual cirrus cloud, a competition between warming and cooling effects will decide the net cloud radiative effect for that specific condition. Because of the spatial heterogeneity in cloud characteristics, radiative effects, and macrophysical properties, we aim to use in-situ observations to improve the simulations of cirrus clouds in global climate models.
A wide latitudinal range of observations will be used, from the Antarctic to Arctic. A synthesis of in-situ observations will be generated, providing a resource for evaluation of remote sensing observations and model simulations.
Deep convection, anvil cirrus and cloud-resolving model (CM1) simulations
Anvil cirrus is one type of cirrus clouds that are associated with convective activities. In the American Meteorological Society (AMS) 27th Conference On Weather Analysis And Forecasting/23rd Conference On Numerical Weather Prediction, Minghui gave a talk about the comparison between in-situ observations and cloud-resolving model simulations
