CAREER: Going Global - The Influence of Southern Ocean Albedo on Large-scale Climate Dynamics

该项目将使用观测和最先进的社区地球系统模型（CESM）来促进对南大洋云层，大气和海洋环流模式以及气候之间耦合的理解。尽管气候模型为我们理解这种耦合提供了信息，但与观测结果相比，它们存在很大的偏差，这使人们对它们的使用产生了疑问。最近，CESM的一个版本大大减少了长期普遍存在的南大洋云和辐射模型的偏差。是由这位研究人员开发的。通过比较CESM的改进版本和默认版本，拟议的研究将量化和建立南大洋云在恒定和变暖气候情景下对全球环流模式的影响。该项目的教育部分将调查极地挂钩对学生了解全球相连的气候系统的兴趣和能力的影响。PI将在本科非科学专业水平开发，实施和评估有和没有极地挂钩的课程，然后与教育合作伙伴一起开发，实施和评估科罗拉多高中学生的平行课程，重点是代表性不足的社区。 将云过程与大气、海洋和气候的大尺度环流相结合是一个新的研究前沿，对气候变化预测具有重要意义。该项目的重点是南大洋，这是地球上云最多的地方，也是一个对全球气候系统产生强烈影响的地区，因为它是碳和热量的汇。拟议的研究将汇集云和气候动力学专业知识，以实现云环流耦合及其对气候影响的根本性进展。综合教育活动将产生关于极地地区和气候建模的引人入胜和经过彻底审查的课程，这些课程将在科罗拉多大学的课堂上使用，在科罗拉多代表性不足的社区内使用，然后通过教育合作伙伴向世界各地的学生和教育工作者分发。通过对在课堂上使用极钩的有效性进行拟议的教育研究，该研究还将确定有效的教学方法，促进学生的学习和参与。

This project will use observations and a state-of-the-art community earth system model(CESM) to advance understanding of the coupling between Southern Ocean clouds, atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns, and climate. Though climate models inform our understanding of this coupling, they have large biases when compared to observations, calling into question their use. Recently a version of the CESM with large reductions in long-standing ubiquitous Southern Ocean cloud and radiation model biases. has been developed by this researcher. By comparing the improved and the default versions of CESM, the proposed research will quantify and establish the influence of Southern Ocean clouds on global circulation patterns in both constant and warming climate scenarios. The educational component of the project will investigate the influence of a polar hook on a student's interest in and capacity to learn about the globally connected climate system. The PI will develop, implement, and evaluate curriculum with and without a polar hook at the undergraduate non-science major level, and then work with educational partners to develop, implement, and evaluate parallel curriculum for high school students in Colorado with a focus on under-represented communities. Coupling cloud processes with the large-scale circulations of the atmosphere and ocean and climate is a new research frontier, with important implications for climate change projections. The project focuses on the Southern Ocean, the cloudiest place on the planet and also a region that strongly impacts the global climate system by serving as a sink for carbon and heat. The proposed research will bring together cloud and climate dynamics expertise to enable fundamental advances in cloud-circulation coupling and its influence on climate. The integrated educational activities will produce engaging and thoroughly vetted curriculum on polar regions and climate modeling that will be used within classrooms at the University of Colorado, within under-represented communities in Colorado, and then distributed students world-wide and educators through educational partners. Through the proposed educational research on the effectiveness of using a polar hook in the classroom, the study will also identify effective instructional approaches for student learning and engagement.