Description:

Deep convective clouds (DCCs) play an important role in the global energy balance through vertical transport and a redistribution of water, energy, particulates, and trace gases through the depth of the troposphere. The representation of DCCs and their feedback on the global circulation and cloudiness represents one of the largest uncertainties in Earth system models. In particular, the aerosol impacts on DCC properties remain poorly understood, with the importance of the aerosol influences a continuing topic of debate within the scientific literature. Quantifying the magnitude and importance of aerosol impacts on DCC properties is an important step towards improved predictability of the climate and water cycle. This session invites theoretical, observational, and modeling studies aiming at advancing process-level understanding of two-way aerosol-DCC interactions, including but not limited to, the following topics: (1) fundamental DCC processes and their interactions and feedbacks with the environment; (2) aerosol impacts on DCC microphysics, kinematics, thermodynamics, radiative properties, macrophysics, and/or precipitation processes; (3) influence of environmental conditions, such as wind shear, humidity, and instability, on DCC processes and two-way aerosol–DCC interactions; (4) climatic influence of aerosol–DCC interactions and their future climate prediction; (5) DCC transport of aerosol particles and subsequent influence on the aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei size distributions; (6) novel measurements such as laboratory, in situ, and remote sensing, advanced machine learning methods, and modeling techniques from large eddy simulation to global scale to quantify aerosol–DCC interactions and their impacts.