Seminar: Dr. Zhanqing Li
Please join us as we welcome Dr. Zhanqing Li, a Professor in the department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Maryland for a seminar titled "Aerosol and Earth’s Energy and Water Cycles: How Can Environmental Changes Affect Climate ?" Coffee will be served.
Abstract
Aerosol can affect the atmospheric processes in numerous ways by altering many components of the energy and water cycles such as the PBL, atmospheric thermodynamics, cloud microphysics and morphology, atmospheric circulation, etc. While many mechanisms have been proposed under certain constrained conditions, it has been a daunting task to identify, understand and quantify the various effects. However, substantial and fast progresses in all the fronts have been made in the last decade or so. Increasing evidences have emerged showing the effects of aerosol on both the climate system and day to day weather are so significant that warrant consideration and accounting for in GCMs and NWPs. I will summarize some of our studies in these broad fronts, followed by more dedicated investigations concerning the impact of air pollution on climate changes in China. Few places are more ideal than China to unravel the complex relationships between weather/climate and aerosol whose loading is strong and types are diverse with strong long-term trends. I will give a brief overview of the major findings we have got over a decade of collaborative studies in China, especially following some major field experiments such as EAST-AIRE (2005), ARM Mobile Facility Deployment in China (2008), EAST-AIRc (2010), EAST-AIRcp (2013-2015), etc.