Hailong Wang

Ph.D., University of Illinois.

SPONSOR: Graham Feingold

TITLE: Large-eddy simulations of the impact of aerosols on turbulent dynamics and shallow cumuli in the trade wind boundary layer

THEME: Climate System Variability

Office: DSRC, Rm. 2A212
E-mail: hailong.wang@noaa.gov
Phone: 303-497-6615

When Hailong Wang thinks about his research, he aims for the sky -- literally. Wang wants to advance our understanding of how aerosols affect the global climate.

Aerosols can scatter or absorb light and also influence cloud formation by acting as a nucleus on which water condenses. But these aerosol-cloud interactions are still poorly understood, adding greatly to the uncertainty of predicting future climate scenarios.

Wang plans to demystify these atmospheric interactions by modeling them using large eddy simulation (LES), a numerical technique used to describe turbulent atmospheric motion and cloud processes.

He believes LES models will also help explain how aerosols affect dynamic processes like the vertical movement of air, as well as the vertical transport of heat and moisture in the atmosphere. Wang hopes to shed light on how aerosols influence the conditions under which clouds and precipitation form.

What inspired Wang to have his head in the clouds? He claims it was growing up in rural China, in the Anhui Province where his parents farmed for a living.

"I was always curious about the weather, about drought and rains and how they affected the crops," he says.

His passion led him to the University of Illinois, where he received his Ph.D. in atmospheric science this past July. Wang will be working as a post-doctoral fellow with CIRES Fellow Graham Feingold during the ’07-’08 academic year.

EXTRA: The Jimenez group might want to watch out: here comes another aerosol-studying volleyball fan.