PhD Proposal: Chamara Rajapakshe
Location
Physics : 401
Date & Time
December 5, 2017, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Description
ADVISOR: Dr. Zhibo Zhang
TITLE: Interactions of radiation with aerosols and clouds in a three-dimensional atmosphere: Implications for aerosol and cloud remote sensing
ABSTRACT: The global measurements of the properties of clouds, aerosols, and aerosol-cloud interactions are primarily based on satellite remote sensing. Therefore, the measurement artifacts associated with the remote sensing retrieval techniques have considerable implications for our understanding of the properties of aerosols, clouds, and aerosol-cloud interactions. Passive remote sensing techniques often treat the atmosphere as a collection of horizontally homogeneous columns and ignore the horizontal photon transportation. Neglection of this realistic 3D structure can affect cloud and aerosol property retrievals which are crucial for understanding the radiative effects of clouds and the indirect aerosol radiative effects. In order to study the 3D effects on aerosol and cloud property retrievals, it is required to compare the retrievals with the underlying physical properties. Such a comparison is problematic to achieve only with the observational data. The proposed work aims to conduct a comprehensive study to investigate the 3D radiative effects on cloud property retrievals and simultaneous retrievals of aerosol and cloud properties for above-cloud aerosol scenes by using an aerosol-cloud retrieval simulator which is based on the ACROS group's previous work.
TITLE: Interactions of radiation with aerosols and clouds in a three-dimensional atmosphere: Implications for aerosol and cloud remote sensing
ABSTRACT: The global measurements of the properties of clouds, aerosols, and aerosol-cloud interactions are primarily based on satellite remote sensing. Therefore, the measurement artifacts associated with the remote sensing retrieval techniques have considerable implications for our understanding of the properties of aerosols, clouds, and aerosol-cloud interactions. Passive remote sensing techniques often treat the atmosphere as a collection of horizontally homogeneous columns and ignore the horizontal photon transportation. Neglection of this realistic 3D structure can affect cloud and aerosol property retrievals which are crucial for understanding the radiative effects of clouds and the indirect aerosol radiative effects. In order to study the 3D effects on aerosol and cloud property retrievals, it is required to compare the retrievals with the underlying physical properties. Such a comparison is problematic to achieve only with the observational data. The proposed work aims to conduct a comprehensive study to investigate the 3D radiative effects on cloud property retrievals and simultaneous retrievals of aerosol and cloud properties for above-cloud aerosol scenes by using an aerosol-cloud retrieval simulator which is based on the ACROS group's previous work.
