Constraining the climate impact of a newly identified polar aerosol source using the UK Earth System Model.
Research Area
I am a modeller, mainly using global numerical models, UK Earth System Model (UKESM), to explore polar and global atmospheric chemistry and climate, e.g., from halogen chemistry and surface ozone depletion to primary sea salt aerosol.
I proposed the concept of producing sea salt aerosols from blowing snow on sea ice, and field data confirmed this mechanism. This newly identified sea salt source has significant impacts on polar atmospheric chemistry and climate, for example, by acting as cloud condensation nuclei. Additionally, other snow impurities, such as sulphate, organics, black carbon, and dust, previously deposited on the surface, could be lifted by blowing snow and recycled into aerosol form through the same process, extending their environmental and climate impacts. However, current climate models have not considered these innovative aerosol sources, creating a substantial knowledge gap in our understanding of polar and global climate change. Therefore, my research focus in the coming years will be on quantifying the re-emission fluxes of snow impurities from blowing snow and using numerical models and advanced analysing tools to assess their environmental and climate impacts. This will be achieved in collaboration with domestic and international colleagues.
Project Interests
UKESM is the UK’s advanced climate model. However, the current version, like other climate models, has significant inaccuracies in representing polar sea salt aerosols and clouds. These shortcomings hinder our ability to make reliable future predictions. It has been found that the missing blowing-snow-sourced aerosols may be a key factor contributing to the model's poor performance. Thus, our goal is to enhance our knowledge of blowing snow aerosols and use observations from high-latitude areas to refine the model's emission fluxes and relevant parameterisations. The optimised UKESM will then be used to thoroughly evaluate the climate impact of blowing snow.
