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Researchers: Dorothy Koch, Ph.D.
Office Address: Aerosol particles in the atmosphere apparently have various and important impacts on global climate, yet great challenges remain to measure, simulate in models and identify their climate impacts. Thus my research is dedicated to improving our understanding of the impacts of aerosols on climate. For me this means primarily improving aerosol representation in global models, improving sources and processes and always comparing to available observations to test the model. My recent modeling efforts have been to look at the impacts of aerosols as they come from particular source regions, such as North America, Southeast Asia or biomass burning regions. Also I like to look at the impacts of particular source types, such as transport-related sources or power plant sources. Such vantage points allow insight into potential mitigation opportunities. The dark particles, or 'black carbon' are of special interest to me because they contribute to planetary heating. They may also contribute to the currently observed melting of glaciers and sea ice. My modeling work suggests that a surprising amount of black carbon in the Arctic may come from as far south as Southeast Asia. In this region most black carbon particles are derived from residential cooking and heating sources. In order to study aerosol impacts on climate it is also important to know the history and possible futures of aerosol loadings. Although this is especially difficult for aerosols, since they are so sensitive to emissions controls, I attempt to assemble the best emissions scenarios to use in the aerosol and climate simulations. Education
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