28.2.2020 Data Science Seminar: Clouds, climate and natural aerosol - using statistical emulation and observational data to understand, and constrain, climate models.

by Kirsty Pringle (School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds)

Friday 28 Feb 2020, 16:00 → 17:00 Europe/London

OC218 (Odgen Centre)

At any given moment, about two-thirds of our planet is covered by clouds, this white blanket reflects solar radiation and cools the planet.  Cloud droplets form on tiny particles (aerosol) in the atmosphere; changes in the number and type of these particles has the potential to change the  cooling properties of clouds, and affect the climate.  Unfortunately the magnitude of this change in cooling remains very uncertain, which limits our ability to predict temperatures in future climates.  This talk will present the first application of statistical emulation to identify which parameters contribute most to this uncertainty, and detail new work that is using a range of atmospheric observations to constrain possible values of these uncertain parameters.