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Tropical cloudiness has its own timeline. That’s what researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found when they compared development of turbulent clouds to the timing of the atmospheric perturbation that rolls over the region every 60 to 90 days. Contrary to past assumptions, rather than a smooth transition, they found two peaks in cloudiness and [...]
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Their fluffy appearance is deceiving. Fair-weather clouds have a darker side, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Fair-weather cumulus clouds contain an increasing amount of droplets formed around pollution particles. The new simulations, using data collected over Oklahoma, show how pollution from Oklahoma City increased the number of cloud droplets and reduced their [...]
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It's easy to visualize particles and gases from vehicle exhaust or burning trash wafting into the atmosphere. It's harder to envision similar gases and minute particles emitted from trees and plants in the forest. What these two have in common is carbon. According to a multi-institutional team of scientists led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, [...]
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After more than a decade of site measurements, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has amassed extensive atmospheric data collections from two tropical western Pacific sites. A team of scientists led by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory showed how these data are used extensively in atmospheric and climate research by scientists around the world. [...]
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Contrasts often provide unique perspectives, and scientists seize any such opportunity—when it arises.
In a new research paper, published in the Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, scientists compared weather and climate observations from two field campaigns that took place around the same time, but in environments that could not offer any greater contrast.
They found that the [...]
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Measurements acquired over long periods, decades at a stretch, matter quite a bit when it comes to making sense of the Earth’s climate system, not to mention improving the performance of global climate models. A new paper published earlier this year once again demonstrates why this is so.
Based on seven years (2003–2010) of measurements of [...]
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What does it mean for the carbon cycle?
The deep drought in the United States that fueled wildfires and damaged crops in 2012 has now continued well into 2013.
However, long before the droughts and fires wreaked havoc, a team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and [...]
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Many studies use fine-scale models of the atmosphere to develop and test sub-grid scale parameterizations of convection in general circulation models (GCMs, also known as climate models). In fact, many experiments, including those run by the ARM Climate Research Facility, supplement observing capabilities with balloon-borne sounding arrays with forcing fine-scale models in mind. Due to [...]
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A new study investigates the impact of aerosols on regional climate in southeast China
On January 12 of this year news of extreme levels of air pollution in Beijing shocked the world.
For decades, poor air quality has been a major health and environmental concern—not just for China, but for the rest of the world as [...]
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Clouds reflect incoming energy from the sun but trap outgoing energy from the Earth. How much energy clouds retain versus reflect, however, determines their emissivity— their ability to act as a source of energy themselves.
Emissivity of clouds depends on more than just the total amount of clouds in the sky. The height at which [...]
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Scientists use ground-based observations to understand the relationship between aerosol abundance in the atmosphere and its effects on cloud properties.
Striking the right balance—critical as it may be—is often difficult. Aerosols, or dust-sized particles in the atmosphere emitted from both natural and anthropogenic sources, pose one such challenge.
Aerosols act as surfaces for atmospheric water vapor to [...]
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Moisture trapped in soil provides water necessary for vegetation and crops, but how much of that moisture makes its way into the atmosphere and influences regional meteorology? The poor understanding of the role of soil moisture in regional and global climate is primarily because monitoring soil moisture, particularly on a large scale, continues to be [...]
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