• Login
    View Item 
    •   SMARTech Home
    • Georgia Tech Theses and Dissertations
    • Georgia Tech Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   SMARTech Home
    • Georgia Tech Theses and Dissertations
    • Georgia Tech Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Dynamical footprints of aerosols in extratropical atmospheric disturbances and circulation: A modeling analysis

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    LU-DISSERTATION-2017.pdf (13.36Mb)
    Date
    2017-08-28
    Author
    Lu, Yi
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Synoptic-scale atmospheric disturbances occupy extratropics in wintertime and form extratropical “storm tracks”. These disturbances not only influence day-to-day weather variability but also modulate regional climates. The region of the North Pacific storm track is also known to be characterized by high concentrations of atmospheric aerosols, making it an ideal location for investigating the interaction between aerosols and extratropical disturbances. In the first part of the study, we investigate the aerosol indirect effects on the development of idealized baroclinic waves in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Doubling of cloud droplet number concentration (to mimic the aerosol indirect effects) in the model increases total cloud water in the model, enhances local latent heating and leads to a statistically significant strengthening of the wave. To take into account the effects of aerosol-convection interaction that had been omitted in the WRF experiments, the Superparameterized Community Atmosphere Model (SP-CAM) is adopted to examine the aerosol effects on developing extratropical cyclones in a more realistic environment. The result suggests that the growth rate of the cyclone is temporarily reduced with increased environmental aerosol concentrations. A convection–advection–moisture self-adjustment (CAMS) mechanism of aerosol–cyclone interaction is proposed to explain this finding. The last part of the study explores the collective effects of aerosols on multiple aspects of the northern extratropical circulation in boreal winter based on long-term perpetual winter simulations conducted with the SP-CAM. Analyses of local energetics of atmospheric disturbances reveal the underlying processes that lead to the strengthened activity of high-frequency (less than 10 days) disturbances and weakened activity of low-frequency (10 to 30 days) disturbances with an elevated level of aerosol emission. Also discussed are the implications of these findings for the short-term prediction of weather and long-term projection of climate change in the northern extratropics.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1853/60651
    Collections
    • Georgia Tech Theses and Dissertations [23403]
    • School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Theses and Dissertations [532]

    Browse

    All of SMARTechCommunities & CollectionsDatesAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypesThis CollectionDatesAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypes

    My SMARTech

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage StatisticsView Google Analytics Statistics
    facebook instagram twitter youtube
    • My Account
    • Contact us
    • Directory
    • Campus Map
    • Support/Give
    • Library Accessibility
      • About SMARTech
      • SMARTech Terms of Use
    Georgia Tech Library266 4th Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30332
    404.894.4500
    • Emergency Information
    • Legal and Privacy Information
    • Human Trafficking Notice
    • Accessibility
    • Accountability
    • Accreditation
    • Employment
    © 2020 Georgia Institute of Technology