Aerosol-cloud radiation interactions continue to be one of the most uncertain components of the climate models, primarily due to the lack of adequate knowledge of complex microphysical and radiative…

This is a $169,213.25 grant award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), a nonprofit research organization, to address uncertainties in aerosol-cloud interactions and their impact on climate models. The project aims to develop two novel global Level-2 products from satellite sensor data that will quantify the radiative effects of absorbing aerosols above clouds and provide aerosol-corrected cloud optical depth measurements. A research algorithm will also be developed to retrieve aerosol properties over snow/sea-ice surfaces. This effort is part of NASA's Earth science research program and does not have a set-aside designation, reflecting USRA's status as a large nonprofit organization with extensive experience supporting NASA's science missions.

Aerosol-cloud radiation interactions continue to be one of the most uncertain components of the climate models, primarily due to the lack of adequate knowledge of complex microphysical and radiative processes of aerosol-cloud systems. One less-understood aspect of the problem is when aerosol and clouds are observed in the same atmospheric column, for instance, light-absorbing carbonaceous and dust particles overlying low-level cloud decks. Contrary to the negative radiative forcing (cooling) exerted by these aerosols in cloud free skies over dark surfaces, the absorbing aerosols over bright backgrounds such as clouds and sea-ICE/snow pose a great potential of warming the atmosphere. This subsequently can have a great influence on the atmospheric stability, cloud formation and its lifetime, and hydrological cycle. Satellite images have unambiguously shown the presence of absorbing aerosol above cloud over several regions of the world on a monthly to seasonal scale. We intend to contribute to addressing these issues by offering two novel level-2 global products and a research algorithm using a synergy of a-train sensors. Part i of the research proposal aims to deliver the OMI level-2 product of single-scattering albedo (SSA) of absorbing aerosols above clouds and aerosol-corrected cloud optical depth (COD) on instances when OMI is collocated with calipso/caliop. Part II is focused on developing another OMI global level-2 product quantifying the radiative effects of aerosols above clouds using the synergy of an improved OMI-omaca product and aqua-ceres flux measurements. Part III offers the development of a research-level algorithm to retrieve aerosol optical and surface properties of absorbing aerosols over sea-ICE/ snow.