Speaker: Zachary McGraw (GISS/CU/APAM)
Topic: Global radiative impacts of aerosol variations through mixed-phase and cirrus clouds

Aerosols can influence Earth's global climate by affecting the formation and radiative influence of ice-containing clouds. This talk covers associated impacts from manmade soot aerosol, naturally emitted desert dust, and aerosol seeding of clouds as a geoengineering strategy. Presented experiments quantify and constrain the impacts of aerosol changes using CESM simulations of Earth’s climate system. Findings suggest that changes to desert dust concentrations have limited impacts on global surface temperature through clouds, while manmade soot may cool the Earth through its influence on ice clouds. Simulations also suggest that seeding ice clouds with aerosol could substantially counteract greenhouse gas warming and associated climate damage, though further research on this strategy is needed.