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
Particles in motion: tracking aerosols with precision and a touch of randomness
4 December 2024
Riemer, Nicole; West, Matthew
Supported by:
Research area: Aerosol Processes
Particle-resolved aerosol modeling is a powerful tool in aerosol research because it captures critical processes and properties that bulk or simplified models often miss. Our work introduces a new method for simulating aerosol transport processes for particle-resolved models, thereby enabling the use of these models on the regional scale.
Simulations reveal details of mixing of a cloud with dry air
2 December 2024
Ovchinnikov, Mikhail
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Processes
When environmental air becomes trapped in a cloud, a process known as entrainment can affect cloud radiative properties, precipitation formation, and ultimately the entire climate system. However, understanding how clouds mix with surrounding air at small scales remains a large challenge. If droplets evaporate quickly at the cloud edges before [...]
Improving low-cloud fraction prediction through machine learning
25 November 2024
Li, Zhanqing; Zhang, Haipeng
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Processes
Low clouds impose a strong radiative cooling effect on Earth’s climate. Predicting low-cloud fraction (LCF) is, however, challenging in global climate models (GCMs), partly due to deficiencies in cloud parameterization schemes. There are two longstanding issues in GCMs: (a) predicting too few low clouds and (b) simulating a too rapid [...]
Planetary boundary-layer height retrievals from micropulse lidar at multiple ARM sites worldwide
25 November 2024
Li, Zhanqing; Roldan-Henao, Natalia
Supported by:
Research area: Atmospheric Thermodynamics and Vertical Structures
The planetary boundary-layer height (PBLH) is a crucial parameter for various atmospheric applications, and lidar measurements are frequently used to track its diurnal evolution. However, lidar-based PBLH retrievals have large uncertainties depending on the algorithm used, especially in stable conditions or when there are multiple aerosol layers. To address this [...]
Wind-driven heat fluxes in the surface energy balance over land
23 November 2024
Williams, Ian N
Supported by:
Research area: Surface Properties
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility observations were used to quantify wind gusts from secondary circulations that are too small to be realistically captured by weather and climate models. Lidar wind profiles and surface measurements show that secondary circulations are connected to surface wind gusts. [...]