Highlights will be written for high-level accomplishments and published journal articles of ASR research. Each ASR principal investigator (PI) is expected to submit at least one highlight per fiscal year.
Research Highlights
Recent Highlights
Understanding the conditions of efficient ice nucleation
9 March 2020
Fast, Jerome D
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Processes
Atmospheric aerosols serve as ice nucleating particles under wide temperature and humidity conditions. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conducted an experiment that probed the nucleus-forming efficiency of atmospheric ice nucleating particles (INPs) and fractions of INPs that nucleated ice. Using two ice nucleation chambers, the study found that ice particles, once [...]
Ice nucleation ability: Loess and more
9 March 2020
Fast, Jerome D
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud-Aerosol-Precipitation Interactions
Loess particles, silt-sized terrestrial sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust, can travel long distances and be lifted to high altitudes to form ice crystals within clouds. However, the distinct ice nucleation process involving loess particles in the formation of mixed-phase clouds is poorly understood. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory investigated [...]
Land surface variations influence shallow cloud populations
4 March 2020
Fast, Jerome D
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Distributions/Characterizations
Shallow clouds occur over many areas of the world and are an important component of Earth’s atmospheric radiation budget. Models, called Large Eddy Simulations (LES), that can represent turbulent motions near the surface as well as the size of small clouds have been used extensively to better understand processes that [...]
Radiative absorption enhancements by black carbon controlled by compositional heterogeneity
26 February 2020
Fierce, Laura
Supported by:
Research area: Aerosol Properties
This paper addresses a critical gap in understanding the radiative impacts of black carbon (BC), an aerosol species estimated as the second most important climate warming agent after CO2. Modeling and laboratory studies suggest that black carbon absorbs more strongly when mixed with other aerosol components, but some ambient observations [...]
Climate sensitivity and the direct effect of carbon dioxide in a limited-area cloud-resolving model
20 February 2020
Romps, David
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Processes
In this study, cloud-resolving simulations are shown to exhibit a dramatic increase in equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) at higher temperatures, due to both an increase in forcing and a decrease in the feedback parameter. In addition, it is found that the direct effect of carbon dioxide offsets a quarter of [...]