Braham Lecture Series – Insights into marine low clouds from recent field campaigns – Monday 8 March 3:30 pm

Abstract: Large decks of low clouds over the ocean, present in regions where the Earth’s large-scale atmospheric circulation suppresses the occurrence of deeper clouds, have drawn the attention of climate scientists for decades. Satellite measurements have made clear that marine low clouds help cool the Earth’s climate, providing one of the few avenues available for reducing the global warming impact from rising carbon dioxide levels. A scientific consensus does not yet exist on whether the cooling role of marine low clouds will be more or less within a future climate. In this talk, I will highlight ship, aircraft, and island-based observational  findings relevant to the  different ways in which marine low cloud albedo can be modulated including interactions with biomass burning aerosols, rain’s ability to organize the geometry of cloud fields, and outbreaks of cold continental air flowing over the ocean behind mid-latitude cold fronts.

About the speaker: Dr. Zuidema is an internationally recognized expert in the atmospheric boundary layer has over two decades of experience designing field campaigns and analyzing cloud observations from ships, land, aircraft and satellite, and evaluating their radiative impacts. Her research combines observations with physical process modeling studies. She led the DOE Layered Atlantic Smoke Interactions with Clouds campaign centered on Ascension Island in the southeast Atlantic and has had leadership roles in NASA, NSF and NOAA field campaigns centered off the coasts of Africa, the US, and South America.