Research in my group focuses on advancing understanding of stratospheric aerosol and its role in climate variability. Specific projects can be organized into three main themes:

  • The lifecycle of stratospheric aerosol including formation, growth, and atmospheric transport
  • Aerosol optical properties and radiative forcing
  • The role of stratospheric aerosol in past and future climate variability
Work on this topic rests primarily on the use and development of numerical models, ranging in complexity from idealized simple models to the comprehensive climate models used in climate projection activites. We also make extensive use of observalational data, including retrievals of aerosol properties from satellite and ground-based instruments, as well as natural proxies of past volcanic eruptions and climate including ice core records and climate reconstructions from tree rings.

 

Activities

I was a contributing author to the sixth Assessment Report from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

I lead the Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society (VICS) working group of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) project.

I am a member of the steering committee of the Model Intercomparison Project on the climatic response to Volcanic forcing (VolMIP).

I am an external partner in the VolImpact (Germany) and Vikings (Norway) research projects.

I created and maintain the Easy Volcanic Aerosol (EVA) optical property generator.