My research focuses on studying the aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions in the boundary layer stratiform clouds over land and ocean, using the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) ground-based observation, aircraft in-situ measurements, and model simulations. The cloud susceptibilities to the aerosols under different absorption regimes and the cloud radiative effects are investigated over the Southern Great Plain (SGP). The environmental effects on aerosol-cloud interaction are statistically revealed over the Eastern North Atlantic (ENA). The cloud vertical and spatial variations, as well as the drizzle impacts on the aerosol budgets, are examined in a stratocumulus case during the ACE-ENA field campaign. The observational insights are used to assess the model simulations of aerosol and cloud under the CESM2 single-column model framework, with modified autoconversion and accretion parameterizations, and altered aerosol initial profiles. The primary aim is to provide observational constraints to the model simulations and aid in future model development.

Speaker Bio: 

Xiaojian Zheng is a graduating Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of Prof. Xiquan Dong in the Department of Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona. He received a B.S. degree in Atmospheric Sciences from the Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology and an M.S. degree in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Arizona. He completed two summer internships in the Atmospheric, Earth, & Energy Division at LLNL in 2021 and 2022.