Use of in-Situ Cloud Microphysical Observations for Quantifying Ice Cloud Microphysical Properties and Processes, and Their Uncertainties

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Prof. Greg M. McFarquhar

Director, Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies

School of Meteorology

University of Oklahoma, Norman

Monday March 22, 2021, 2 PM EST

Abstract:

The most fundamental and complex problems in climate and weather research are our poor understanding of basic cloud properties and an inability to quantify the many effects cloud processes have on weather and climate. An overview of aircraft cloud probes and a description of how their data informs the understanding of processes occurring in ice cloud is provided. Sources of error in observations (statistical counting, variability in cloud properties, instrument errors such as shattering of large ice crystals on probe tips) are described using data collected over the Southern Ocean, in tropical oceanic convection and over the continental United States. These error sources are used to develop stochastic parameterizations of cloud properties that can be implemented in models or remote sensing retrievals. The use of such schemes in an ensemble simulation of a mid-latitude convective anvil is illustrated. New projects underway and planned to better characterize cloud microphysical properties and processes are reviewed.

Biosketch:

Dr. Greg McFarquhar is the Director of the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) and a Professor of the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. He has published over 190 peer-reviewed scientific papers and is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and American Geophysical Union. His research focuses on cloud microphysics and he has led or participated in 28 airborne field campaigns in 5 different continents. He is the current Vice-President of the International Commission on Clouds and Precipitation and formal chair of the American Meteorological Society’s Committee on Cloud Physics.

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