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
Tailoring a convection-cloud chamber for optimizing droplet collisions
12 March 2024
Wang, Aaron; Ovchinnikov, Mikhail
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud-Aerosol-Precipitation Interactions
Droplet collision-coalescence plays an important role in the initial formation of drizzle-sized droplets, yet quantitative understanding of this process in turbulent clouds is lacking. A convection-cloud chamber that produces a turbulent cloud between a warm moist bottom and a cold moist top can provide a controlled environment for laboratory studies [...]
Biomass burning gases react within clouds, forming secondary organic aerosols
11 March 2024
Ovchinnikov, Mikhail; Shrivastava, Manishkumar
Supported by:
Research area: Aerosol Processes
Thousands of tiny particles in the atmosphere unseen by the naked eye scatter and absorb solar radiation and seed clouds. A lot of these particles are not directly emitted but are formed by reactions of gases with atmospheric oxidants in multiple phases, including gas-phase and liquid water contained in clouds [...]
Decoding the dialogue between clouds and land through boundary-layer processes
8 March 2024
SU, Tianning; Li, Zhanqing
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Processes
Based on a series of previous research, this article revisits and challenges the conventional understanding of how clouds form and engage with the Earth's surface. This exploration discusses the process-level mechanism of the complex interactions within the atmospheric boundary layer.
Key deficiencies of CESM2 in simulating stratocumulus evolution under cold versus warm advection
28 February 2024
Li, Zhanqing; Zhang, Haipeng
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Processes
The influence of temperature advection (Tadv) on stratocumulus clouds (Sc) is highly uncertain in climate models. Previous studies have demonstrated distinct impacts of physical processes on cloud properties under contrasting Tadv conditions: cold-air advection (CADV) and warm-air advection (WADV). Accurate representation of those physical controls in both Tadv scenarios is [...]
Statistical relations among parameters of the water cycle in the arctic atmosphere
15 February 2024
Matrosov, Sergey
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Processes
Earth’s water cycle is a complex system, and its characteristics are modified by climate change. Evaporation, water vapor condensation, and precipitation are important processes of the water cycle. Modeling these processes is especially challenging in the Arctic, where climate changes are amplified. Remote-sensing retrievals of water cycle parameters allow for [...]