(please refer to Satellite of Love by Lou Reed while reading this post)
I am currently changing direction from my research this summer. It makes more sense for me to be looking at satellite cloud observations instead of just small scale ground based observations because I want to tie this research back to something more applicable. I am beginning the data download process and familiarizing myself with data management and navigation. One possible application of looking at clouds from satellites is that I can also look at aerosols. Callipso and CloudSat are the two major satellites aimed at understanding cloud processes and also have aerosol sensors onboard. In a very recent paper, Tosca et al. found that biomass burning (which releases black carbon into the atmosphere) in tropical Africa inhibited convection in clouds, which reduces precipitation and cloud cover, leading to a longer drought season, and more fires. A positive feedback loop! This paper is quite interesting because radiative effects from aerosols can have many different kinds of forcings on clouds. Researchers have found contradictory evidence of the effects of black carbon. Also relavent to this discussion is the lastest IPCC report, where they have modified the language used for aerosol effects to reflect the multitude of effects and uncertainty in these effects. The new terms haven’t quite caught on yet though…
Satellite-derived direct radiative effect of aerosols dependent on cloud cover
Human-caused fires limit convection in tropical Africa: First temporal observations and attribution
