Collaborative Research: Inhibition of Snowfall by Pollution Aerosols

智力价值：这项研究将增进对气溶胶污染在改变冬季地形降水方面的潜在作用的理解。需要解决的一个关键问题是气溶胶污染对云的影响如何因各种天气状况、云类型和这些云中的过冷水量而改变。根据之前的建模结果，预计过冷水含量较高的云（例如科罗拉多州圣胡安山脉上空常见的云）更容易受到气溶胶污染的影响。这种潜在响应的调节将在时间上通过风暴峰实验室 (SPL) 的时间序列测量来解决，在空间上通过科罗拉多州圣胡安山脉上更分布式的测量和模型模拟来解决。 变革性研究的潜力：这项研究有可能修正气溶胶对冬季地形降水影响的传统理论。先前的研究表明，污染气溶胶浓度的增加会导致地形云降水量显着减少。主要研究人员在科罗拉多州帕克山脉进行的进一步研究表明，气溶胶污染还可能在邻近河流流域之间重新分配地形降水和随后的径流。根据这种观点，总降水量可能会有所减少，但气溶胶引起的降水位置变化占主导地位。这项新研究将进一步探讨这两种潜在影响的相对贡献。考虑更长的时间段（即整个冬季）应该会得出更可靠的结论，并改进污染气溶胶影响的区域气候学。更广泛的影响：这项工作具有重大的人口和经济影响。如果污染气溶胶确实系统性地减少了山区降雪量，那么美国西部地区的发展增加将反过来减少维持人口增长所需的积雪产生的水资源，并需要采取战略来最大限度地减少这种影响。在本研究的实地部分期间，SPL 的教育和外展活动将包括由首席研究员领导的为期三天的研究生水平中尺度建模课程、由威斯康星大学合作者领导的为期一周的山地气象学研究生/本科生课程，以及。沙漠研究所提供的研究生实地气象学课程，重点关注 SPL 独特的观测能力。该实验室位于斯廷博特滑雪胜地的山顶，也为公众提供了参与其全方位活动的大量机会，在这笔赠款支持下的主要研究人员将为公众举办开放日，并创建一个更永久的户外展示，描述该项目下正在进行的工作。

Intellectual Merit: This research will advance understanding of the potential role of aerosol pollution in modifying wintertime orographic precipitation. A key issue to be addressed is how the influence of aerosol pollution upon clouds may be altered by various synoptic weather regimes, cloud types, and amounts of supercooled water within these clouds. Based on previous modeling results, it is anticipated that clouds with higher amounts of supercooled water (such as those typically found over the San Juan Mountains of Colorado) are more susceptible to impacts by aerosol pollution. The modulation of this potential response will be addressed both temporally via time-series measurements at the Storm Peak Laboratory (SPL) and spatially through more distributed measurements over the San Juan Mountains of Colorado and through model simulations.Potential for Transformative Research: This investigation has the potential to revise traditional theories of aerosol-induced impacts on wintertime orographic precipitation. Prior work has suggested that increased pollution aerosol concentrations lead to a significant reduction in precipitation falling from orographic clouds. Further studies by the Principal Investigators conducted in the Park Range mountains of Colorado suggest that aerosol pollution may also redistribute orographic precipitation and subsequent runoff among adjacent river basins. In this view, some reduction of total precipitation may occur but aerosol-induced shifts in the location of precipitation predominate. The relative contributions of these two potential influences will be further explored in this new study. Consideration of longer time periods (i.e., a full winter season) should lead to more robust conclusions, as well as an improved regional climatology of pollution aerosol influences.Broader Impacts: This work has significant demographic and economic implications. If pollution aerosols are indeed systematically reducing mountain snowfall, increased development across the western U.S. will in turn reduce available snowpack-derived water resources needed to sustain such population growth and require strategies to minimize such impacts. Education and outreach activities at SPL during the field component of this study will include a three-day graduate level mesoscale modeling class led by the Principal Investigator, a week-long graduate/undergraduate class in mountain meteorology led by a University of Wisconsin collaborator, and. a graduate field meteorology class offered through the Desert Research Institute focusing on SPL's unique observational capabilities. The location of the laboratory at the summit of the Steamboat Ski Resort also affords considerable public access to its full range of activities, and the Principal Investigators supported under this grant will conduct open houses for the public and create a more permanent outdoor display describing work being done under this project.