Guest seminar, Joaquin Blanco, University of New South Wales, Australia

Seminar

Date: Monday 5 May 2025

Time: 11.15 – 12.15

Location: C609 Rossbysalen, MISU, Svante Arrhenius väg 16C, 6th floor

Title: The uniqueness of observed and simulated Southern Ocean clouds: from large-scale dynamics to microphysics.

Abstract

Clouds over the Southern Ocean (SO) are increasingly recognized to play a critical role on Earth’s present and future climate. The SO is one of the cloudiest places on Earth, and yet Global Climate Models have historically misrepresented cloud amount, thickness and phase across this region. Satellite retrievals from CERES and MODIS show that the hemispheric asymmetry in cloud albedo maximizes over oceanic regions between 50°-65° latitude. The first part of this talk will address the question of why the SO is cloudier than its norther counterpart over that latitude band. The analysis is performed under a Cloud Controlling Factor (CCF) framework, i.e.: evaluation of cloud properties in daily timescales as functions of large-scale variables such as sea surface temperatures (SST), midlevel vertical velocity, etc. In the second part, the same CCF methodology is used to assess macrophysical aspects of cloud albedo biases from coupled and atmosphere-only simulations of CMIP6 models. Notably, it is found the threshold of SST~ 4°C sets a hemispheric asymmetry in cloud albedo seemingly linked to an asymmetry in cloud phase, and additionally the same threshold may serve as a proxy for SO cloud biases of microphysical origin.

Photo: Joaquin Blanco

Brief Biography

Joaquin Blanco holds a Lic. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), and a MSc. and. Ph.D. from the University of Miami / RSMAS. After a 2-year postdoc at MISU, he joined the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales (Sydney) as a research associate. His research areas include organization of convection in the tropics, idealised simulations, cloud and precipitation processes, and model evaluation against satellite retrievals.

Welcome!

If you want to be added to the seminar mailing list to receive regular information about our seminars, please contact our IT person.

Theme

Atmosphere and Weather

Last updated: February 13, 2025

Source: MISU

eventNewsArticle

standard-article

true

{
  "dimensions": [
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.subject",
      "name": "Global categories",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.tag.Keywords",
      "name": "Keywords",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.tag.Person",
      "name": "Person",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.tag.Tag",
      "name": "Tag",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Category.Events",
      "name": "Globala kategorier Kalender (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Label",
      "name": "Tema (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Label.en",
      "name": "Themes (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [
        {
          "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Label.en.Atmosphere",
          "name": "Atmosphere and Weather",
          "entities": [],
          "attributes": [],
          "childrenOmitted": false,
          "localizations": {}
        }
      ],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Keyword",
      "name": "Keywords (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "Meteorologiska.eng.lokala.kat",
      "name": "Lokala kategorier ENG MISU",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [
        {
          "id": "Meteorologiska.eng.lokala.kat.kal",
          "name": "Local calendar",
          "entities": [
            {
              "id": "Meteorologiska.eng.lokala.kat.kal.utb",
              "name": "Education",
              "entities": [],
              "attributes": [],
              "childrenOmitted": false,
              "localizations": {}
            }
          ],
          "attributes": [],
          "childrenOmitted": false,
          "localizations": {}
        },
        {
          "id": "Meteorologiska.eng.lokala.kat.kal",
          "name": "Local calendar",
          "entities": [
            {
              "id": "Meteorologiska.eng.lokala.kat.kal.fo",
              "name": "Research",
              "entities": [],
              "attributes": [],
              "childrenOmitted": false,
              "localizations": {}
            }
          ],
          "attributes": [],
          "childrenOmitted": false,
          "localizations": {}
        },
        {
          "id": "Meteorologiska.eng.lokala.kat.kal",
          "name": "Local calendar",
          "entities": [
            {
              "id": "Meteorologiska.eng.lokala.kat.kal.om",
              "name": "About the department",
              "entities": [],
              "attributes": [],
              "childrenOmitted": false,
              "localizations": {}
            }
          ],
          "attributes": [],
          "childrenOmitted": false,
          "localizations": {}
        }
      ],
      "localizations": {}
    }
  ]
}