GESTAR II Seminar Series, January 23, 2024 at 1:00pm

"Southern Africa contributes approximately one-third of the global fire emissions, stemming mostly from the burning of grasslands and savannahs, with more smoldering combustion occurring in boreal summer and late fall. The large-scale circulation couples the African continent to the southern subtropical Atlantic Ocean, partly through a land heat low that elevates the smoke and drives upper-level winds westward. The biomass-burning aerosols can then interact with one of the largest marine low cloud decks on our planet, both through smoke's ability to absorb sunlight, and through more direct interactions with the cloud microphysics. Dedicated field campaigns within the last decade have revealed new insights into the nature of these interactions: smoke is more present in the boundary layer than initially thought, and absorbs more sunlight per particle than initially assumed. The seasonal cycle of the interactions is pronounced. Although climate models still struggle to represent the net radiative impact on climate, the models producing larger warming estimates are likely closer to the truth. I will use this talk to communicate current understanding of this region, highlighting these new findings and remaining questions."

"I mostly grew up in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, graduating with a BS in Physics from there. In 1999 I graduated with a PhD from University of Colorado-Boulder from their Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. I spent three years thereafter at the NOAA lab in Boulder, where I started doing more field work, and in 2005 moved to the Rosenstiel School of University of Miami. I am now the Chair of their Department of Atmospheric Sciences. My research focuses on marine boundary-layer clouds."