Impact of Anthropogenic Air Pollution on Ice Clouds and Regional Radiative Forcing

这个项目将利用卫星数据来提高对污染如何影响冰云的理解。卷云和相关的冰云覆盖了地球的很大一部分，这些云对地球的辐射收支有重要影响。污染可以通过改变构成云的冰粒的大小和密度来影响云。然而，关于影响云的污染种类及其如何转化为辐射平衡和气候的变化，仍然存在重大的不确定性。该项目的长期影响将是通过解决冰云问题来改善全球气候模型，这是仍然存在的关键不确定性之一。该项目还包括对一名早期职业科学家的培训。研究小组将提高对与人为气溶胶相关的冰成核过程的理解。该项目的重点将放在黑碳、生物质燃烧气溶胶、有机物和固体硫酸铵上，目的是全面评估人为气溶胶对冰成核、冰云特性以及由此产生的区域辐射强迫的贡献。包括CloudSat、CALIPSO和Aqua在内的A-train卫星星座的数据将用于：1)研究气溶胶载荷与冰云微物理和宏观物理特性的相关性；2)评估各种气象参数对观测到的气溶胶-云关系的影响，以提取气溶胶的效应；3)对气溶胶和冰云组合的观测进行综合分析，量化气溶胶与冰云相互作用所施加的辐射强迫。

This project will make use of satellite data to improve the understanding of how pollution affects ice clouds. A significant fraction of the globe is covered by cirrus and related ice clouds and these clouds have an important impact on the radiation budget of Earth. Pollution can impact clouds by changing the size and density of the ice particles that make up the cloud. However, there are still significant uncertainties related to the kinds of pollution that affect clouds and how that translates to changes in the radiative balance and climate. The long-term impact of the project will be to improve global climate models by addressing ice clouds, which are one of the key remaining uncertainties. The project also includes training for an early-career scientist.The research team will improve understanding of the ice nucleation process associated with anthropogenic aerosols. The focus of the project will be on black carbon, biomass burning aerosols, organic matter and solid ammonium sulfate with a goal to provide a comprehensive assessment of the contribution of anthropogenic aerosols to ice nucleation, ice cloud properties, and the consequent regional radiative forcing. Data from the A-train constellation of satellites, including CloudSat, CALIPSO, and Aqua will be used to: 1) investigate the correlation between aerosol loading and ice cloud microphysical and macro-physical properties, 2) evaluate the impacts of various meteorological parameters on the observed aerosol-cloud relationship to extract the effect of aerosols, and 3) perform a comprehensive analysis of observations of collocated aerosols and ice clouds to quantify the radiative forcing exerted by aerosols interacting with ice clouds.