ARM/ASR's Role in Advancing Understanding of Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions (Invited Presentation)

For over 20 years, the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) has deployed instrumentation to measure aerosol, clouds, radiation, and precipitation to tackle one of the thorniest problems associated with climate change, namely the influence of aerosol particles on cloud microphysics, precipitation, and cloud radiative properties (aerosol indirect effects).  In parallel, ARM and the Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program have supported modeling efforts that together with the observations advance our fundamental understanding of the system, and improve the predictive capabilities of climate models. In this talk I will give a brief overview of some of the highlights of this research and provide perspective on future directions for quantifying the aerosol-cloud radiative effect.