AGS-PRF: The Effects of Aerosols on Cloud Microphysics and Precipitation in the Caribbean

加勒比是一个由岛屿和大陆海岸组成的热带沿海地区，拥有4000多万居民和多样化的生态系统。进一步了解加勒比海水循环的关键是通过研究气溶胶和云在调节降水中所起的作用。加勒比海位于撒哈拉尘柱的路径上，理论上，这在影响降雨的季节性变化方面起着至关重要的作用。人们对气溶胶在控制热带地区气候和天气方面的作用所知甚少。因此，本研究的主要目标是提高我们对热带沿海环境中气溶胶粒径分布（PSD）和源对云过程和降水的影响的理解。这项研究将包括对几个变量（PSD、降水率、总累积降雨量、风力等）的观测分析，以及这些变量之间的关系。观测分析将通过使用云解析模式的建模工作加以补充，以研究不同PSD情景下的降水模式。当可用时，来自NASA AERONET的PSD数据将与Ceilometer/LIDAR数据相结合，以获得该区域上方的3D PSD特征，该特征将随着数据的可用而更新（4D）。为了确定PSD对降水的影响，这些数据将被处理并直接输入到一个双矩云解析模型中（该模型预测水流星质量混合比和数量浓度）。下一阶段的工作是将气溶胶化学信息纳入数值分析。这项工作产生的计算产品将通过位于纽约城市学院（CCNY）的沿海城市环境研究小组（CUERG）计算服务器提供给科学界，该服务器将作为主办机构。该研究将由CCNY机械工程系的Jorge Gonzalez教授指导，他将担任赞助科学家。这项研究还将有助于将CCNY的研究人员与波多黎各大学（UPR）的科学家联系起来，努力了解UPR的多个AERONET站点的气溶胶对当地的影响。知识价值：该研究在云解析模式中推进了加勒比气溶胶PSD特征的发现和实现，同时增加了对气溶胶如何影响该地区降水的理解。目前，加勒比地区的PSD数据很少，我们希望通过将多个数据来源合并成一个将向科学界提供的独特存储库来填补这一科学和实际的空白。该研究将包括独特的高分辨率降水建模技术，其中PSD数据将被吸收到模型中，以改善天气事件的预测。更广泛的影响：了解和预测加勒比地区的气候/天气是一项重要的社会和科学事业。该地区受到来自撒哈拉沙尘和亚马逊地区生物质燃烧的大陆尺度气溶胶负荷的影响，再加上岛屿的快速城市化，将导致复杂的气溶胶结构，可能对气候和天气产生深远影响。这里的工作将提供可能改善极端天气事件预报的结果，并就气溶胶在调节加勒比水循环中的作用这一主题引发国际对话。最后，这项研究将为来自科学界代表性不足群体的博士后学者提供培训平台。

The Caribbean is a tropical coastal region formed of islands and continental coasts of more than 40 million inhabitants and a diverse ecosystem. The key to further understanding the Caribbean water cycle is through investigation of the roles aerosols and clouds play in modulating precipitation. The Caribbean lies in the path of the Saharan dust plume, which is theorized to play a crucial role in impacting the seasonal variability of rainfall. Very little is known about the role of aerosols in controlling climate and weather in tropical locations. It is therefore the main objective of this research to improve our understanding of aerosol particle size distribution (PSD) and source effects on cloud processes and precipitation in tropical coastal environments.The study will include observational analyses of several variables (PSD, precipitation rate, total accumulated rainfall totals, wind, etc.) and how these variables relate to one another. The observational analysis will be complemented by a modeling effort using a cloud resolving model to investigate precipitation patterns under different PSD scenarios. When available, PSD data from NASA's AERONET will be coupled with Ceilometer/LIDAR data in order to attain a 3D PSD signature above the region that will be updated as data is available (4D). This data will be processed and ingested directly into a two moment cloud resolving model (that predicts hydrometeor mass mixing ratios and number concentrations) in order to determine the effects of PSD on precipitation. The next phase of the work is to incorporate aerosol chemistry information into the numerical analysis. Computational products resulting from this work will be available to the scientific community via the Coastal Urban Environmental Research Group (CUERG) computational server, resident at City College of New York (CCNY), which will serve as the host institution. The research will be supervised by Professor Jorge Gonzalez of CCNY's Mechanical Engineering Department, who will serve as the sponsoring scientist. This research will also serve to connect researchers from CCNY with scientists from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) in an effort to learn about local impacts of aerosol at each of UPR's multiple AERONET sites.Intellectual merit:The research advances the discovery and implementation of Caribbean aerosol PSD signatures in cloud resolving models, while increasing understanding of how aerosol impacts on precipitation over the region. At present, PSD data in the Caribbean is scarce and we hope to fill this scientific and practical gap by combining multiple sources of data into a unique repository which will be made available to the scientific community. The research will include unique high resolution precipitation modeling techniques where PSD data will be ingested into the model for the purpose of improving forecasting of weather events.Broader impacts:Understanding and predicting climate/weather in the Caribbean is an important societal and scientific undertaking. The region is exposed to continental scale aerosol loadings from Saharan dust and biomass burning from the Amazon, which, coupled with the rapid urbanization of the islands, would result in complex aerosol structures that may have a profound impact on climate and weather. The work herein will provide results that can likely improve forecasting of extreme weather events, and spark international dialogue on the subject of the role of aerosols in modulating the Caribbean water cycle. Finally, the research will serve as a training platform for a postdoctoral scholar from an underrepresented group in the scientific community.