Despite numerous studies about the impact of aerosols on ICE and mixed-phase clouds, the role of anthropogenic aerosols in ICE processes, especially over pollution regions, remains unclear and…

This federal grant award was issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - doing business as the Office of Research Administration. The $360,201.00 grant supports a scientific research study to investigate the impact of anthropogenic aerosols on ice and mixed-phase clouds, and assess the resulting effects on precipitation. The study aims to leverage satellite data from instruments like MODIS, CloudSat, and CALIPSO to characterize aerosol-cloud interactions over test regions in California and East Asia. This research falls under NASA's broader Earth science initiatives and aligns with the solicitation for science data analysis to address Earth science research questions. The award has no set-aside designation, and the work will be performed at UCLA's facilities in Los Angeles. UCLA's parent organization is the State of California Controller's Office, which has also participated in federal contracting and grant programs as both a prime and subrecipient.

Despite numerous studies about the impact of aerosols on ICE and mixed-phase clouds, the role of anthropogenic aerosols in ICE processes, especially over pollution regions, remains unclear and controversial, and has not been considered in regional models. The objective of this proposed study is to improve our understanding of ICE processes associated with anthropogenic aerosols, and provide a comprehensive assessment of the contribution of anthropogenic aerosols to the properties of ICE and mixed-phase clouds and the consequent precipitation through satellite observations. We aim to answer the following fundamental scientific questions related to aerosol-cloud interactions and rain efficiency: (1) how do the micro- and macro-physical properties of different types of ICE and mixed-phase clouds respond to anthropogenic aerosol loadings? (2) what is the magnitude of precipitation change resulted from the influence of anthropogenic aerosols on various types of ICE and mixed-phase clouds? This study will take full advantage of collocated measurements from modis, cloudsat, calipso and other a-train satellites to characterize the influence of anthropogenic aerosols on different types of clouds and to quantify potential impacts on precipitation. The proposed study is within the scope of the solicitation: science data analysis to answer earth science research questions. We will use the california and east asia as testbeds. Specifically, we will focus on the following two items. First, we will collect collocated satellite measurements of aerosols, cloud macro- and microphysics, precipitation, and meteorological parameters determined from modis, cloudsat, calipso, and trmm. Secondly, we will perform data analysis to investigate the manner in which anthropogenic aerosols affect the microphysical and macro-physical properties of different cloud types and the associated precipitation amount and frequency. Finally, we wish to note that the approach of using satellite data analysis proposed herein could be applied to other regions as well.