We are delighted to be joined by Professor Minghui Diao from San Jose State University, who will give a talk on ice and mixed-phase cloud microphysics and aerosol-cloud interactions.
Abstract
Clouds and aerosols are large modulators of the Earth’s system. Understanding cloud properties and their interactions with aerosols is a critical step towards improving the fidelity of Earth system models. Our work examined ice and mixed-phase clouds at a near global scale, covering the polar regions, midlatitudes and the tropics in both hemispheres. Multi-scale observations based on 20+ field campaigns were compared against several Earth system models to advance the understanding of cloud microphysical processes and aerosol-cloud interactions. Novel methods were developed to conduct scale-aware, definition aware comparisons between multi-scale observations (e.g., aircraft-, ship-, and ground- and satellite-based) and model simulations. Interesting hemispheric asymmetries in cirrus cloud and mixed-phase cloud microphysical properties were found. Several Earth system models were found to severely underestimate the impacts of aerosols on ice and mixed-phase clouds. In the latter part of the presentation, climate impacts on California will be examined, including impacts of wildfire risks and extreme heat at community scales using a regionally refined climate model and machine learning approaches.
About the speaker
Dr. Minghui Diao is a Full Professor in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose State University. Her research focuses on clouds, aerosols, and climate impacts using observations and Earth system models. She received her B.S. degree from Peking University and her Ph.D. degree from Princeton University. She is the recipient of the NCAR ASP Faculty and Postdoc Fellowships, DOE Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Faculty Sabbatical Fellowship, NASA NESSF Fellowship, and the Princeton Francis Upton Fellowship. She currently serves on the National Academy of Sciences Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC) and is an editor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. Website: