Introduction and Goals of Workshop,
and Relationship to SOCRATES proposal
Greg McFarquhar
University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA
Workshop on Clouds, Aerosols, Radiation and Air-Sea
Interface of Southern Ocean: Establishing Directions for
Future Research,
18-19 March 2014, Seattle, WA
Steering Committee
Chris Bretherton, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Christian Jakob, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC
Roj Marchand, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Greg McFarquhar, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
Alain Protat, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne,
Steven Siems, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC
Bob Weller, Woods Hole, Woods Hole, MA
Rob Wood, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Workshop Goals
1. Identify state of knowledge of clouds,
aerosols & air-sea interaction over Southern
Ocean
2. Identify strategies for reducing uncertainties
in their representation in global and regional
models
3. Ultimate goal: better determining the role of
clouds, aerosols & air-sea interaction in
climate system.
Workshop Deliverable
• Steering committee expects to develop a
whitepaper “Southern Ocean challenges and
objectives” that will detail
1.
2.
3.
4.
Main challenges about Southern Oceans
General science objectives for Southern Oceans
More specific science questions
Strategy for addressing science questions
• Strategy for addressing objectives will likely
include a field experiment, SOCRATES, as well
as satellite analysis & model simulations
Why the Southern Ocean?
• Southern Ocean plays critical role in global
climate system & is unique pristine
environment
• But, there have been sparse observations of
clouds, aerosols, radiation & air-sea interface
in this region.
• Consequently, much unknown about
atmospheric and oceanographic processes
and their linkage in this region.
Challenges of Southern Ocean
1. Large SW radiation & SST biases in GCMs
2. Contribution of pre-industrial aerosols to indirect
forcing
3. Why mixed-phase clouds frequently occur
4. Why is there seasonal cycle in Ncloud
5. Influence of sea spray on cloud formation
6. Influence of DMS on aerosols/clouds
7. Why observed mid-level clouds not produced in
GCMs
8. Understanding of frontal cloud systems in SO
9. Evaluation of satellite products over SO
General Objectives
i. Characterize properties of cloud systems over SO,
& processes involved in life cycles of cold fronts
ii. Characterize aerosol microphysical & chemical
properties (including DMS), their role in regulating
CCN, and impact on cloud formation/maintenance
iii. Evaluate satellite cloud, aerosol, precipitation and
ocean products
iv. Evaluate/improve skill of models at multiple scales
for reproducing aerosol/cloud/radiation/
precipitation interactions
• Rob Wood’s talk will go into more detail
SOCRATES (Southern Ocean Cloud
Rain/Radiation, Aerosol Transport
Experimental Study
• We ultimately hope to conduct a field campaign
over Southern Oceans
• Possible proposals to come out of this meeting:
– EOD/SOD to NSF for use of G-V/C-130?
– Proposal to deploy ARM Mobile Facility?
– Proposal to use NASA Global Hawk/ER-2 as highaltitude facility?
– Proposal to use Australian R/V Investigator?
– Others?
Organization of Workshop
• Tuesday: Review past modeling &
observational research efforts in the Southern
Ocean region
• Tuesday AM: Overview talks on the Southern
Ocean
• Tuesday PM: Concurrent sessions on Clouds
and Meteorology, and on Aerosols and their
interactions with Clouds
Organization of Workshop
• Wednesday: Prioritize remaining scientific
issues to be resolved & identify strategy for
addressing key aerosol-cloud-climate
questions.
• Wednesday AM: Breakout #1: Formulate key
questions on role of aerosols/clouds/air‐sea
interactions in Southern Oceans
• Wednesday PM: Breakout #2: What are
needed measurements/retrievals/simulations
needed to address hypotheses?
General Info
• We will divide into 3 breakout groups on
Wednesday: division/organization of groups
discussed Wednesday morning
• Provide session moderator with copy of slides
– Let us know if you do NOT wish them displayed on
website
• Summaries of all breakout sessions will be
presented in plenary
Acknowledgments
• Special thanks to Department of Energy
Atmospheric Systems and Research Program
(DOE ASR) for providing funding to partially
support this workshop