Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Assessing Cirrus Cloud Thinning Strategies by Learning From Aerosol-Cirrus Interactions in Natural and Perturbed Conditions
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Cirrus clouds exert a strong yet highly uncertain influence on the Earth’s radiation budget due to their competing longwave warming and shortwave cooling effects. Their net radiative impact critically depends on poorly constrained microphysical processes governing ice crystal formation and growth. This uncertainty limits our ability to quantify aerosol-cirrus interactions and hampers a robust assessment of cirrus cloud thinning (CCT) as a potential solar radiation management strategy. While aerosol-cloud interactions in liquid clouds have been extensively investigated, their counterpart in ice clouds remains insufficiently constrained by both observations and models.
Within the framework of the ACCTS project, we investigate the sensitivity of cirrus microphysical properties to aerosol perturbations by combining satellite remote sensing, aerosol reanalyses, Lagrangian transport diagnostics, and high-resolution cloud-resolving simulations. The approach targets three complementary questions: (i) how cirrus microphysical properties respond to aerosol variability across dynamical and thermodynamical regimes, (ii) to what extent high-pollution events can be used as natural experiments to isolate aerosol-driven signals, and (iii) how these observational constraints can inform and improve the representation of aerosol-cirrus interactions in regional and global models, with implications for CCT assessments.
For more information please visit: simonsfoundation.org/event/solar-radiation-management-annual-meeting-2026
Assessing Cirrus Cloud Thinning Strategies by Learning From Aerosol-Cirrus Interactions in Natural and Perturbed Conditions
~
Cirrus clouds exert a strong yet highly uncertain influence on the Earth’s radiation budget due to their competing longwave warming and shortwave cooling effects. Their net radiative impact critically depends on poorly constrained microphysical processes governing ice crystal formation and growth. This uncertainty limits our ability to quantify aerosol-cirrus interactions and hampers a robust assessment of cirrus cloud thinning (CCT) as a potential solar radiation management strategy. While aerosol-cloud interactions in liquid clouds have been extensively investigated, their counterpart in ice clouds remains insufficiently constrained by both observations and models.
Within the framework of the ACCTS project, we investigate the sensitivity of cirrus microphysical properties to aerosol perturbations by combining satellite remote sensing, aerosol reanalyses, Lagrangian transport diagnostics, and high-resolution cloud-resolving simulations. The approach targets three complementary questions: (i) how cirrus microphysical properties respond to aerosol variability across dynamical and thermodynamical regimes, (ii) to what extent high-pollution events can be used as natural experiments to isolate aerosol-driven signals, and (iii) how these observational constraints can inform and improve the representation of aerosol-cirrus interactions in regional and global models, with implications for CCT assessments.
For more information please visit: simonsfoundation.org/event/solar-radiation-management-annual-meeting-2026
