References of publications related to my research interests. References of publications related to my research interests.
Central to my research interests are the suspended particles
in the atmosphere known as aerosols. Atmospheric aerosols are an important
area of climate research since they affect the earth's climate by scattering
and absorbing radiation and by influencing the characteristics of clouds.
Predictions of the global average radiative forcing due to anthropogenic
aerosols are of the same magnitude but opposite in sign as the predicted
forcing due to anthropogenic carbon dioxide. The shorter life time of aerosols,
compared to carbon dioxide, results in more localized climate affects and
regional differences in aerosol properties. Understanding the influence of
aerosols on the earth's climate is necessary before we can make reliable
predictions of anthropogenic induced climate change. The direct effect of
aerosols to scatter and absorb radiation in the atmosphere influences the
amount of radiation reaching the earth's surface and the amount radiated
back to space. Absorption of radiation by aerosols in a polluted atmosphere
may heat the atmosphere sufficiently to affect the formation of clouds, and
the cloud droplet number concentration is determined to a large extent by
a subset of atmospheric aerosols, called cloud condensation nuclei (CCN).
CCN may influence the lifetime of clouds by reducing the number of large
cloud droplets and hence inhibit the precipitation formation process.
Besides in-situ measurement of aerosols, I am also interested in remote sensing of clouds and aerosols. Satellite data can be used to extend in both space and time in-situ measurements to give a global prospective that is costly to obtain with in-situ measurements. In-situ and satellite measurements need to be synthesized and incorporated into climate models so predictions can be made and tested about cloud microphysics, radiation balance, and precipitation. Models that fully incorporate aerosols may be used in examining how aerosols, radiation balances and precipitation systems are coupled and investigate possible feed backs. I believe that collaboration among researchers is critical and I plan to collaborate with other researches to obtain and analyze measurements of aerosol properties to understand their role in determining the earth's climate.