Clouds exert a profound influence on the Earth’s climate. Clouds form when air parcels become supersaturated in water vapor, which condenses spontaneously on aerosols. As climate changes as a result of human activity, how will clouds change? As the number of aerosol particles in the atmosphere increases, theory predicts, and measurements confirm, that cloud droplets become smaller and more numerous, leading, in principle, to a brighter cloud and more solar radiation reflected back to space. But this is just the most obvious manifestation of the complex interplay between cloud microphysics and atmospheric dynamics. Representing the physics of cloud formation is perhaps the most challenging aspect of general circulation modeling of climate. Aircraft sampling of clouds and aerosols has provided our group with comprehensive data sets in cloud systems ranging from marine stratocumulus, to continental cumulus, to deep precipitating cumulonimbus. These data sets serve as “ground truth” in evaluating models of cloud response to aerosol perturbations. Using a combination of field measurement and theory and numerical modeling, our group strives to unravel the mysteries of the aerosol-cloud system.
Research Group wiht the Twin Otter aircraft in the 2006
GoMACCS field experiment in Houston, Texas
Field Programs:
Seinfeld Research Group. 2007.