Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/M009955/1
Understanding Aerosol-Fog interactions
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Professor A Blyth, University of Leeds, School of Earth and Environment
- Grant held at:
- University of Leeds, School of Earth and Environment
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Overall Classification:
- Atmospheric
- ENRIs:
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Science Topics:
- Boundary Layer Meteorology
- Land - Atmosphere Interactions
- Tropospheric Processes
- Abstract:
- The goal of this project is to improve the forecasts of radiation fog; i.e. fog that forms on a cold, humid, calm night. Fog is one of the highest impact weather events in the UK. The Met Office is the CASE partner. A poor forecast of fog -- e.g predicting that fog will occur over Heathrow and no fog forms -- could result in losses of millions of pounds. Equally, thick fog that was not forecast properly can cause severe traffic accidents resulting in loss of life. Major health problems can also occur due to air-pollution events that are caused by the same meteorological conditions, which can cause enhancements in fog intensity (e.g. the Beijing smog). The formation of radiation fog can occur when there are calm or light winds, high relative humidity and rapid cooling. However, whether fog does or does not form depends on the balance between radiative cooling, turbulent mixing, the growth of aerosol particles by the uptake of water vapour, the activation of fog droplets on the aerosol particles and cold-air advection. The development of the fog upwards depends on condensation on aerosols above the fog and continued cooling. Most previous research has not considered aerosol particles in any detail, despite their importance. A method that is often employed to understand and develop fog parametrisation is high resolution (1 to 10 m) large eddy simulation, which permits a detailed analysis of the processes involved in fog formation and dissipation. Previous studies that employ such models have demonstrated that the simulation of fog is very sensitive to the representation cloud microphysics. While aerosol are a vital component in the development of fog and clouds, the role of aerosol, the way that aerosol interacts with fog and the means by which fog influences aerosol is very uncertain and has been less well studied. In this PhD project, a newly developed state-the-art high resolution numerical model will be used to investigate and understand the role of aerosol and aerosol-cloud interactions in the formation and evolution of fog. The model is a Large-eddy model (LEM). It is being developed for new massively parallel architectures as a collaboration between NERC and the Met Office. The model (called MONC) will be used on field campaign case studies using observed properties of aerosol particles to compare with observations of the behaviour and microphysics of the fog. MONC will also be used alongside the Met Office Unified Model with the cloud aerosol interactions microphysics (CASIM) scheme.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/M009955/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Industrial CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £85,492
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - DSA | Total - Fees | Total - Student Stipend | Total - RTSG |
|---|---|---|---|
| £370 | £16,587 | £57,538 | £11,000 |
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