AGS-FIRP Track 2: Aerosol-Mixed Phase Cloud Interactions Through Cloud Chamber Experiments

Clouds that contain liquid and ice simultaneously are known as mixed-phase clouds. These clouds play an important role in the formation of precipitation and control of sunlight reaching the surface. A significant uncertainty with mixed-phase clouds is how they respond to aerosols, which are small atmospheric particles such as dust. This project will conduct a series of experiments in a specialized laboratory instrument known as a cloud chamber. Better representation of mixed-phase clouds will improve precipitation forecasts and provide important information for studies of aircraft icing. This project will consist of experiments in the Michigan Tech University’s Pi Cloud Chamber to investigate the sensitivity of mixed-phase cloud microphysics to aerosol and thermodynamic perturbations. Multiple steady-state mixed-phase clouds will be generated using varying concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nucleating particles (INP), and different temperature gradients, to analyze the impacts of aerosols and turbulence on clouds under controlled laboratory conditions. The primary research questions are to determine: 1) how ice and supercooled liquid water particle size distributions in mixed-phase clouds respond to different initial CCN concentrations and INP concentrations, and 2) how do the ice integral radius values required to glaciate the mixed-phase cloud respond to different temperature and water vapor flux forcing? This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2549874 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Neel Desai | Institution: San Jose State University Foundation, SAN JOSE, CA | Award Amount: $374,521 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2549874 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2549874.html