Collaborative Research: Inhibition of Snowfall by Pollution Aerosols

智力价值：这项研究将促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。一个需要解决的关键问题是，气溶胶污染对云的影响可能会受到不同的天气状况、云类型和云中过冷水量的影响。根据以前的模拟结果，预计过冷水含量较高的云(如科罗拉多州圣胡安山脉上常见的云)更容易受到气溶胶污染的影响。这种潜在响应的调制将通过风暴峰实验室(SPL)的时间序列测量在时间上和空间上通过科罗拉多州圣胡安山脉上更分散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诱导的冬季地形降水影响的传统理论。先前的工作表明，污染气溶胶浓度的增加导致从地形云中落下的降雨量显着减少。首席调查员在科罗拉多州公园山脉进行的进一步研究表明，气溶胶污染还可能使地形降水和随后的径流在相邻的河流流域之间重新分配。按照这一观点，总降雨量可能会有所减少，但主要是气溶胶引起的降水位置的变化。这项新的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，并改善污染气溶胶影响的区域气候学。广泛影响：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在系统地减少山区降雪，那么整个美国西部地区的发展将反过来减少维持这种人口增长所需的可用积雪来源的水资源，并需要采取策略将这种影响降至最低。在本研究的实地部分，SPL的教育和外联活动将包括由首席调查员主持的为期三天的研究生级别的中尺度建模课程，由威斯康星大学的一名合作者主持的为期一周的山区气象学研究生/本科生课程，以及。通过沙漠研究所提供的研究生野外气象学课程，重点关注SPL的独特观测能力。该实验室位于蒸汽船滑雪场的顶端，也使公众有相当大的机会了解其所有活动，这笔赠款支持的首席调查员将向公众开放参观，并创建一个更永久的户外展示，介绍在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.