Atmospheric aerosols are very small particles that are suspended in the air. Many are comprised of dust, smoke or sea salt from the Earth's land and ocean surfaces, while others are formed through chemical reactions in the atmosphere. Aerosols likely play a role in forming clouds and precipitation, but the relative importance of aerosols versus other mechanisms is unclear. The impact of aerosol forcing on the climate system remains one of the largest unknowns in the atmospheric science community. This Postdoctoral Research Fellowship will allow an early-career researcher the opportunity to study the role of aerosols in shallow tropical convection and precipitation. The project will be a combined observational and theoretical exercise, with analysis of research aircraft data and studies making use of an advanced numerical model. Better knowledge of how aerosols affect clouds and precipitation would have a significant impact on understanding of the weather and climate system, leading to better forecasts. The researcher also plans to conduct mentoring and outreach, thereby enhancing public understanding of science.
Observational evidence from the DOMEX (Dominica Experiment) field campaign shows a strong relationship between aerosol and cloud number concentration, cloud droplet size, and surface precipitation amount. This relationship will be further explored using aircraft observations from past and planned field campaigns along with numerical model simulations. The project will be carried out as a combination of two separate but closely related studies. The first is a bulk statistical approach with a large number of in-situ aircraft observations. The second is a theoretical study on microphysical processes and rates of cloud and precipitation formation using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The researcher will work in close collaboration with the author of one of the main microphysical schemes used in the WRF model.
