Highlights will be written for high-level accomplishments and published journal articles of ASR research. Each ASR principal investigator (PI) is expected to submit at least one highlight per fiscal year.
Research Highlights
Recent Highlights
Consideration of initial spectral shape in quantifying turbulent entrainment-mixing processes
8 September 2021
Liu, Yangang
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Processes
Turbulent entrainment-mixing processes have been proposed to explain outstanding cloud physics problems such as spectral broadening and rain initiation. However, microphysical measures of these processes have been based on a traditional mixing diagram that is only applicable to narrow droplet size distributions. This study investigates the influences of the initial [...]
The Rankine-Kirchhoff approximations for moist thermodynamics
2 September 2021
Romps, David
Supported by:
Research area: Atmospheric Thermodynamics and Vertical Structures
Depending on the level of approximations used, thermodynamic equations for moist air (a mixture of dry air and the three phases of water) can range from simple and analytic to complicated and analytically intractable. To guarantee analytic solutions, a typical approach is to approximate the latent enthalpies of evaporation and [...]
Seasonal cycle in SE Atlantic low cloud fraction amplified in the presence of smoke
19 August 2021
Zuidema, Paquita; Zhang, Jianhao
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud-Aerosol-Precipitation Interactions
The subtropical Atlantic Ocean hosts one of the planet's largest marine low cloud decks and interacts with biomass burning aerosol from approximately June through October. This study details how the monthly evolution in meteorology and the aerosol vertical structure relates to the seasonal cycle in low-cloud fraction. The smoke is [...]
A computationally efficient, process-level model for secondary organic aerosol (simpleSOM)
13 August 2021
Jathar, Shantanu
Supported by:
Research area: Aerosol Processes
Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) processes are often simplified in models to improve computational efficiency. We developed a process-level model called simpleSOM-MOSAIC that includes: (1) multigenerational gas-phase chemistry, (2) phase-state-influenced kinetic gas/particle partitioning, (3) heterogeneous chemistry, (4) oligomerization reactions, and (5) accounts for experimental artifacts. In this first application, we demonstrate [...]
Evaluation of a land-atmosphere coupling metric computed from a ground-based infrared interferometer
9 August 2021
Turner, David D.
Supported by:
Research area: Atmospheric Thermodynamics and Vertical Structures
Land-atmosphere coupling metrics are a useful tool for quantifying the relative role of the land surface in driving planetary boundary layer (PBL) processes as well as development (or suppression) of convective precipitation. Our work leverages the higher temporal resolution offered by the atmospheric emitted radiance interferometer (AERI) to evaluate uncertainties [...]