Assessing the Impacts of Anthropogenic and Natural Aerosols on Tropical Cyclones

As one of the most destructive weather phenomena, the formation and development of tropical cyclones are regulated by dynamic, thermodynamic, and microphysical processes, including sea surface temperature, vertical wind shear, vorticity, atmospheric stability, and humidity of the free troposphere. Although recent studies have linked increased occurrence and devastation of tropical cycles to climate change, the factors in regulating their genesis and intensification remain uncertain. In particular, the destructive power of tropical cyclones is primarily driven by latent heat release from water condensation and inevitably linked to the abundance of aerosols by acting as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nucleation particle. In this talk, I will present results from both observations and numerical model simulations to investigate the impacts of anthropogenic and natural aerosols on deep moist convection, precipitation, and lightning activities.