Title – Simulating primary ice production in mixed-phase clouds – have we reached this milestone?
It is reasonable to argue that the most important milestone in a mixed-phase cloud’s life is the initiation of ice. If we cannot sufficiently capture this process in weather and climate models, then it is unlikely that the cloud’s properties and evolution will be accurately represented. This has important implications for cloud radiative properties and estimates of equilibrium climate sensitivity via the role of cloud feedbacks. //new paragraph // Our research group focuses on improving the representation of ice-nucleating particles (INPs), which are the fundamental link between aerosols and primary ice production in mixed-phase clouds. My research falls into two distinct themes. First, I use ambient measurements to inform new understanding of INP properties and derive globally relevant INP parameterizations for use in models across scales. Second, I use our modelling tools to establish the primary sources of aerosols that influence the high latitudes (regions we believe clouds are most sensitive to changes in INP concentrations). In this talk I will present our current research on these two themes. This includes using a new dataset of 30,000+ ambient INP measurements from the northern hemisphere to derive a new parameterization that links the aerosol size distribution to an INP concentration. I will also outline the future direction of our research (now that we can sufficiently represent interactive INPs in our models!).