Abstract:

Aerosols emitted during biomass burning have the potential to be transported more than 10,000 km downwind of point sources, with 50% of all emissions originating from anthropogenic fires. This talk covers my research on how biomass burning produced aerosols influence large-scale cloud structure, precipitation rates and environmental health. Understanding the evolution of aerosol chemical and optical properties during long-range transport, and meteorological conditions driving such, is crucial toward correctly modeling its radiative and microphysical effects, in addition to impacts on regional air quality. In recent literature, aerosols have been shown to directly influence cloud transitions from stratocumulus to cumulus types over the open ocean which ultimately affects precipitation processes. My interdisciplinary research approach utilizes remote sensing satellites, regionally-refined climate models, data from field campaigns and ground-based observational instruments to quantify and demystify aerosol impacts on weather, climate dynamics and air quality on regional and international length scales. Recent advances in the temporal resolution of large eddy simulations allow models to better reproduce cloud transitions occurring on the scale of a few hundred meters. Ongoing and future research directions will be discussed pertaining to a transdisciplinary approach of quantifying aerosol impacts on the environment.