A New Lens on Aerosol-Cloud Retrievals: Advancing Satellite Remote Sensing with Polarimetric and Lidar Observations

Understandings the role of aerosols in cloud formation and climate remains the most uncertain components of the Earth’s climate system, posing a significant challenge to accurate climate predictions. The present research leverages cutting-edge advancements in satellite remote sensing to enhance our understanding of these aerosol-cloud interactions using spaceborne lidar and polarimetric observations. This talk introduces a novel framework for retrieving high-resolution vertically resolved cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration from space-borne lidar, with an extension to polarimetric observations from SPEXone instrument onboard NASA’s PACE mission, alongside detailed aerosol properties retrievals including size distributions and compositional information. Furthermore, integrating these aerosol retrievals with advanced cloud property measurements from PACE-HARP2 improves our ability to decode the complex interplay between aerosols and clouds. By advancing satellite remote sensing techniques, this research offers refined insights into aerosol-cloud interactions, enhancing our understanding of cloud formation, radiative balance, and climate feedback mechanisms. These developments significantly reduce uncertainties in climate modeling and improve the predictive accuracy of climate science.