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
Diffusion in large organic aerosols influences growth of ultrafine atmospheric particles
18 May 2020
Fast, Jerome D
Supported by:
Research area: Aerosol Processes
The dynamics of how aerosol particles grow and their size evolves, along with how they affect Earth’s climate, are poorly understood. New research on secondary organic aerosols formed from oxidation of isoprene—a volatile organic compound released from many plants and trees—provided quantitative insights into how slow diffusion inside viscous organic particles [...]
Bridging the model-data divide for shallow convection
15 May 2020
Gustafson, William I.; Vogelmann, Andrew M.
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Distributions/Characterizations
Combining large-scale atmospheric models and observations presents a long-standing challenge for scientists because of the inherent mismatch between different space and time scales. For example, shallow convective clouds—low, puffy clouds that reflect sunlight back to space—are so small that typical atmospheric models cannot resolve them. The U.S. Department of Energy’s [...]
Afternoon convection favored over drier or wetter land surface depending on atmospheric state
14 May 2020
Williams, Ian N.
Supported by:
Research area: General Circulation and Single Column Models/Parameterizations
A strong negative feedback of dry soil on convective initiation was found in atmospheric states supporting deep boundary layers. Convection and precipitation show positive relationships to surface evapotranspiration only in more humid, thermally stratified atmospheres.
Modeling spatial heterogeneity in surface turbulent heat flux in the US Southern Great Plains
14 May 2020
Williams, Ian N.
Supported by:
Research area: General Circulation and Single Column Models/Parameterizations
Advances in modeling cloud dynamics call for improved land model prediction at convective storm scales. In this study, satellite and ground-based vegetation remote-sensing data were combined with land-model experiments to more accurately characterize land-surface spatial heterogeneity.
ARM zenith radar provides insight into marine low clouds for shaping future spaceborne missions
14 May 2020
Lamer, Katia; Battaglia, Alessandro
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Distributions/Characterizations
Because of their ubiquitous nature and the way they interact with solar and longwave radiation, warm marine boundary-layer (WMBL) clouds play a crucial role in the global energy budget. Unfortunately, numerical models still struggle to properly represent their properties, which ultimately affects our confidence in future climate projections. WMBL clouds cover [...]